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THE STORY OF RUSSIA 



BY 



R. VAN BERGEN, M.A. 

AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF JAPAN," "THE STORY OF CHINA," ETC. 



3 '> 
1 ■) i 

5 . 5 



NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:■ CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



JLIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 3 1906 

Copyright Entry 
CLASS <^ XXc. No. 

I Z6 "=1 EC 

COPY B. 



,^ 



Copyright, rgos, 
By AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 



Story of Russia 
W. P. I 



HENRY MATHER LOWMAN 

AMICUS CERTUS RE INCERTA CERNITUR. 



PR E FAC E 



Recent events have drawn the attention upon Russia, a 
country -of which but httle is known here, because the in- 
tercourse between it and the United States has been hmited. 
In my frequent journeys to the Far East, I found it often 
difficult to comprehend events because, while I could not 
help perceiving that the impulse leading to them came from 
Russia, it was impossible to discover what prompted the gov- 
ernment of the czar. I felt the necessity to study the history 
of Russia, and found it so fascinating, that I resolved to 
place it in a condensed form before the students in our 
schools. They must be the judges of how I have succeeded. 

R. Van Bergen. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER . PAGE 

I. The ReaIvM of the; Czar 13 

II. Bari^y Records of Russia 23 

III. The Norsemen (or Varingians) in Russia 29 

IV. Saint Vi^adimir and Iaroslorf the Great 41 

V. A Russian Repubwc 49 

VI. Troubi^ous Times 57 

VII. The YE1.1.0W PeriIv 63 

VIII. Russia Under the Mongoi, Yoke 71 

IX. Lithuania and Moscow 79 

X. Decline of the Tartar Power. Dmitri Donskoi 87 

XI. Ivan III, the Great 97 

XII. Russia becomes an Autocracy 106 

XIII. Ivan IV, the Terribi^e i z 1 

XIV. Russia Under Ivan the Terribi^e 122 

XV. Feodor, the Last of Rurik's Descendants 129 

XVI. MiCHAEi. Feodorovitch (Son of Theodore), the 

First Romanof 137 

XVn. EARI.Y Years of Peter the Great (Peter 

Alexievitch ) 145 

II 



12 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII. Peter the Great axd His Reign 153 

XIX. Peter the Great axd His Time 162 

XX. The Successors of Peter the Great 173 

XXI. Russia Under Catherine II (the Great) 183 

XXII. Russia During the Wars of Napoleon 194 

XXIII. An E^-entful Period 208 

XXIV. Alexander II, the Liberator 219 

XXV. Great Events During Alexander's Reign. 

Nihilism 229 

XXVI. Alexander III, the Peasants' Friend 241 

XXVII. Russia Under the Present Czar, Nicholas II.. 251 
XXVIII. The Origin and Growth of The Asiatic Empire 259 

XXIX. Russian Methods. The War with Japan 267 

XXX. Russia Loses her Prestige 277 



THE STORY OF RUSSIA 



I_THE REALM OF THE CZAR 

WHEN we think of our country, we feel proud of it 
for other and better reasons than its great size. 
We know how its extent compares with that of other 
nations ; we know that the United vStates covers an area 
almost equal to that of Europe, and, more favored than 
that Grand Division, is situated on the two great highways 
of commerce, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Europe is 
as far from the latter, as Asia is from the former ; and 
these highways, powerful means toward creating pros- 
perity, remain at the same time barriers whereby nations 
that find greater delight in the arts of war than in those 
of peace, are restrained from disturbing our national 
progress. 

At the beginning of this twentieth century the nations 
upon which depends the world's peace or war, happiness 
or misfortune, are the United States, Great Britain, 
Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, Japan, 
and in the near future China. Here we see that Europe, 
although little larger in area than the United States, is 
represented by seven nations, Asia by two, and the 
Western Hemisphere by one which by its institutions 

13 



14 

stands for peace and progress, for law and order. Hence 
we, its citizens, are known all over the world as 
Americans. 

If we compare the area occupied by the several Euro- 
pean powers with that covered by the main body of our 
republic, that is, not including Alaska and other outlying 
territories, we find that Austria-Hungary has four 
thousand square miles less than Texas, while Germany 
lacks forty thousand square miles in comparison with the 
Lone Star State. France is four thousand square miles 
less than Germany, and Italy is only a thousand square 
miles greater than Nevada. The British Kingdom in 
Europe is about twice the area of Illinois. Among the 
great nations of the world, aside from outlying posses- 
sions beyond the Grand Division, our country stands 
third, and should occupy the second place, because China, 
the next larger, owes its greater area to territories over 
which she has little or no control, and which she seems 
destined to lose. 

The largest country is Russia, covering as it does one- 
sixth of all the land on the earth. This empire, although 
inhabited by people differing in race, religion, and cus- 
toms, is one compact whole. It embraces in Europe 
2,113,000 square miles, or more than all other Euro- 
pean nations combined ; its area in Asia is 6,672,000 
square miles, making a total of 8,785,000 square miles, or 
2.8 times as many as the main body of our country. All 
the people living in this immense empire, whatever their 
race, religion, or language, obey the will of one man. 
We, who dwell in our beloved country, yield obedience 
only to the Law ; but the laws are made by ourselves, and 



15 

they allow us to do as we please, so long as we do not 
interfere with others who have the same rights ; and those 
laws are ever ready to protect us. In Russia laws are 
made or unmade at the will of one person who is himself 
above the laws. Every nian, woman, or child, born and 
living in that country, is at his mercy. Mere suspicion is 
sufficient to drag a man from his family and home, per- 
haps to disappear without leaving a trace. Such a 
government is called an autocracy, and the man who may 
thus dispose of people's life and property, is known as 

■ft 

an Autocrat. Hence the title of the Emperor of Russia 
is : Autocrat of All the Russias. 

Why "All the Russias"? Look at the map of 
Eurasia, the continent embracing the two Grand Divi- 
sions Europe and Asia. You will see that the Russian 
Empire is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean ; 
on the east by the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, the 
Sea of Okhotsk, and the Japan Sea ; on the south by 
China, Pamir, Afghanistan, Persia, Asiatic Turkey, 
and the Black Sea ; and on the west by Roumania, 
Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, the Baltic Sea. 
Sweden, and Norway. This immense empire is the 
growth of many centuries, and even in Europe it has 
not yet been welded into one whole. W^hen we read 
Russian books, we learn about Great and Little Russia, 
White and Red Russia, which shows that divisions of 
bygone years are still observed by the people. Much 
has been done towards effacing those boundary lines ; 
but the fact that the czar, autocrat though he is, recog- 
nizes and admits the division in his title, shows that even 
he is, to some extent, subject to public opinion. 



i6 



Russia in Europe, however, with the exception of 
Poland and Finland, is a country with one religion and 
one language ; that is, the czar and his government recog- 
nize and admit no other. That is the cause of the perse- 
cution of the Jews, four fifths of whom dwell in the 
southwest of Russia in an area covering 356,681 square 
miles, which is sometimes mentioned as the Jewish terri- 
tory. Every succeeding czar has tried to make all his 
subjects think and act in the manner prescribed by him. 
The process is known as '' Russianizing," and goes on 
incessantly in its different stages. Immediately after the 
conquest of a country, its people are assured that their 
religion, institutions, and language, shall be respected ; 
the only difference is that the native officials are displaced 
by Russians. This continues until Russian rule is firmly 
established, and no one dreams of resisting the czar. 
Then the Russian language displaces the native tongue, 
and if disturbances occur, the military is called in to 
inflict a terrible punishment. The loss of the native 
language carries wnth it that of old institutions, and when 
the people have submitted to their fate, it is the turn of 
their religion. The Russian is in no hurry ; he has a 
conviction that time has no changes in store for his 
empire, hence he bides his time, and is likely to succeed 
in his purpose. This process is now carried on in 
Central Asia where Russian power has found its greatest 
expansion in modern times. It is but fair to admit that 
Russian absorption there has been highly beneficial 
because robber tribes were reduced to law and order. 

Before telling the Story of Russia, that is, of how the 
huge empire was formed and grew to its present size, 



i8 



it is necessary to become better acquainted with the 
aspect and nature of the country. Looking at the map 
of the Eurasian continent, that is. the continent embrac- 
ing Europe and Asia, we cannot fail to notice that Russia 
is a country of the plains. Its southern boundary seems 
to follow the mountain barriers which divide Asia into 
two parts. Does it not seem as if long billows of earth 
roll down toward the Arctic Ocean, where they rest 
benumbed by the eternal cold ? These mountains branch 
off toward the south, east or west, but scorn to throw 
so much as a spur northward. It is true that a solitary 
chain, the Urals, runs north and south, but it stands by 
itself, and is nothing more than what the word Ural 
signifies, a belt or girdle separating the European from 
his Asiatic brother. These mountains do not form the 
backbone of a country, nor do they serve as a watershed, 
like our Rocky Alountains or the Andes of South America. 
Some of their peaks rise to a height of 6,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, but the chain, 1531 miles long, seems 
destined only to keep the two races apart. 

Beyond the Ural mountains, the plain resumes its 
sway. This extensive flat could not fail to exert a 
noticeable influence upon the country and its inhabitants. 
The dense forests in the north, while acting as a screen, 
do not afford protection against the icy polar winds which 
sweep with scarcely diminished force over the broad 
expanse, so that the northern shores of the Black and 
Caspian Seas in January have about the same temperature 
as Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The mountains of 
AA'estern Europe shut off the aerial current of the Gulf 
Stream which tempers the summer heat as well as the 



19 

winter cold. Russia's climate, therefore, is one of 
extremes. In summer the heat is very oppressive, owing 
to the absence of the sea breeze which elsewhere affords 
so much relief ; and when a wind does blow, it only adds 
to the discomfort, because it has lost its moisture. That 
is the reason why Russia suffers so often from drought. 
This is especially the case in the south where no forests 
are found to attract rain. 

Xature has provided a substitute in the splendid water- 
ways. In about the center of European Russia, rises the 
A^aldai plateau to a height of i,ioo feet above the sea 
level. This is Russia's great watershed. Xear it, in 
Lake A'olgo, rises the largest river of Europe, " ^Mother 
\'olga," as the Russian ballad singers love to call it. 
Its entire length is 2,336 miles, or nearly the length of 
the Missouri ; it has a basin of 590,000 square miles. 
Owing to the slight slope of the land, the great river 
flows placidly in its bed, which is fortunate since its 
waters are swollen by several large rivers, so that there 
are points where it is seventeen miles wide. The Kama, 
one of the tributaries of the A'olga, is 1,266 miles long; 
the Oka. another confluent, has a length of 633 miles. 
At Kazan, the \'olga is 4,953 feet wide, at Jaroslaf 2,106 
feet, and at Samara, 2,446 feet. It empties into the 
Caspian Sea, with a delta of more than seventy branches. 
The fish caught in this river often grow to gigantic 
proportions ; its sturgeons, lampreys, and salmon, are 
highly prized. Since time immemorial, the \'olga has 
been a great highway of trade. Kostroma, Xishni Nov- 
gorod, Kazan, Simbirsk, Saratof, and Astrakhan, are the 
most populous cities on its banks. 



20 



Other large rivers rise on the Valdai plateau. The 
Dnieper runs south, passing by Kief, and empties in the 
Black Sea, near Odessa. The Dwina runs northward, 
seeking the icy Arctic, which it enters by way of the 
White Sea near Archangel. The Diina takes a westerly 
course towards the Gulf of Riga where it empties near the 
city of that name. Of greater importance are the small 
streams which feed Lakes Ladoga and Onega, because 
they connect Central Russia with the Baltic Sea by 
means of the Neva. 

European Russia is usually divided into four zones 
or belts, from the character of the soil and the nature 
of its productions ; their general direction is from south- 
west to northeast. In the north, as a screen against 
the Arctic blast, is the poliessa or forest region, densely 
covered with lindens, birches, larches, and sycamores, 
with oaks on the southern fringe. These forests are 
invaluable to Russia where, in the absence of mountains, 
stone is scarce. The houses are built of wood, and 
fires are of common occurrence. Both lumber and fuel 
are supplied by these forests which originally extended 
to Novgorod, Moscow, and Jaroslaf. The increase in 
population together with the growing demand for 
lumber, have caused extensive clearings ; but the area 
covered by the forests is so large, that the supply is 
well-nigh inexhaustible. 

South of this zone are the black earth lands, extend- 
ing down to the Caucasus and across the LTals, and 
covering in Europe an area of one hundred and fifty 
million acres, — equal to that of Texas. This zone 
derives its name from an apparently inexhaustible bed 



21 



of black mold, so rich that no manure is required to 
produce abundant crops. Until late in the last century, 
and before the United States began to export its surplus 
harvests, this region was considered the granary of 
Europe. It was known in very old times since we read 
of it in the Heroic Age of Ancient Greece, when Jason 
sailed in the Argo to bring home the Golden Fleece. 

Almost equal in extent is the zone of arable steppes, 
or prairies, once the home of the Cossack, the nomad 
who led here the life of a shepherd king, moving about 
as the condition of pasture and flock required. Most of 
this land is now under cultivation, and with careful 
farming produces good crops. These arable steppes 
cover an area equal to that of Iowa, Kansas, and 
Nebraska. 

The fourth and last zone is that of the barren steppes. 
There is ample evidence that at some remote time these 
plains were covered with salt water. The Caspian Sea 
has a level eighty feet below that of the Black Sea, and it 
is therefore probable that here was a large inland sea of 
which the Caspian and Aral Seas are the remains. These 
steppes are unfit for farming. Here dwell the Kalmucks 
and Kirghizes, descendants of the Tartars whose yoke 
once pressed heavily upon Russia. 

Sto. of Russia — 2 



II— EARLY RECORDS OF RUSSIA 

AT an early period in the history of Greece, we hear of 
colonies established on the northern shore of the 
Pontus Euxinus or Hospitable Sea, as they named the 
Black Sea. We may even now recognize some of the 
names of those colonies, such as Odessos, at the mouth 
of the Bug-, Tyras, at that of the Dniester, and Pityas 
where Colchis, the object of the search of Jason and his 
fellow Argonauts, is supposed to have been. In the 
fourth century before our era, some of these colonies 
united under a hereditary archon or governor, probably 
for the purpose of securing better protection against the 
barbarians who dwelt further inland. 

The Greeks mention these barbarians as the Scythians, 
and divided them into three classes. The agricultural 
Scythians dwelt in the black earth belt, near the Dnieper ; 
the nomad Scythians lived at some distance to the east 
of them, and the royal Scythians occupied the land around 
the Sea of Azof. 

Learned men of Russia have made many excavations 
on the spots where the Greek settlements once stood, 
during the past century. They have been rewarded 
by finding many works of art, illustrating the mode of 



24 



living of the Scythians. They have been placed, and 
may be seen in the Hermitage museum of St. Petersburg. 
Among these relics of the past are two beautifully 
engraved vases, one of gold, the other of silver. The 
Scythians on the silver vase wear long hair and beards, 
and are dressed in gowns or tunics, and bear a close 
resemblance to the Russians of our time. These vases 
and other ancient objects confirm what is said about these 
people by Herodotus, a Greek historian who lived in the 
fourth century before Christ. 

We learn from him that the Scythians worshiped a 
sword stuck into the ground, representing the god of 
war, and that they made human sacrifices. They drank 
the blood of the first enemy killed in battle, scalped their 
prisoners, and used their skulls as drinking cups. In the 
course of time the Greek civilization exerted its influence, 
and penetrated to tribes dwelling much further in the 
north, as is shown by the antiquities found in the govern- 
ment of Ekaterinoslaf. 

The orbis terrariim or world so far as it was known 
to the Greeks, was centered about the Mediterranean ; 
hence the name of that sea, meaning Middle of the Land 
or Middle of the Earth. Beyond that there was an 
unknown region, supposed to be inhabited by people of 
whom many wonderful stories were told. Thus they 
believed in the existence of the Arimaspians, a race of one- 
eyed people ; there are legends, too, of the Agrippei who 
were described as bald and snub-nosed. The Greeks also 
mention the Gryphons, who, they said, were guardians 
of immense quantities of gold. The most wonderful 
people to the Greeks were the Hyperboreans, or dwellers 



25 



beyond the regions of the north wind, who were looked 
upon with awe and pity because it was said that they 
lived in a country where snow fell summer and winter. 
These were some of the races and tribes supposed to 
inhabit Russia, which goes far to prove that the knowl- 
edge of that country, in those times, was neither extensive 
nor very accurate. 

The truth is that we know very little about the early 
inhabitants of Russia ; nor do they concern us greatly, 
because grave changes occurred in the fourth century 
of our era. At that time several large and warlike tribes 
of Central Asia moved westward compelling other tribes 
on their route to join them or to move ahead. Thus 
they gathered strength until it looked as if Asia was 
bent upon the conquest of Europe. They poured in 
through the gap between the Ural mountains and the 
Caspian Sea, and the civilized people of southeastern 
Europe were unable to cope with the savage hordes. In 
the vanguard were the Goths, who made an effort to 
settle in Scythia, but they were forced to move on when 
Attila, who is know^n as the Scourge of God, swooped 
down upon them with his Huns. He was followed by 
a host of Finns, Bulgarians, Magyars, and Slavs who, 
however, left his wake, scattered and settled down. 
Soon after the Slavs became known to Greek authors and 
were described by them. They were divided into a 
number of tribes, among them the Russian Slavs who 
settled about the sources of the Volga and the Oka, 
and were the founders of Novgorod, Pskof, and Izborsk. 

They must have been a numerous people. We hear 
of another tribe settling on the banks of the Vistula, and 



26 



laying the foundation of the future kingdom of Poland. 
They settled on the upper Elbe, and in the north of 
Germany. It is believed that the Slavs are ancestors 
of the people in Bohemia. Bulgaria, Croatia. Servia, 
and Dalmatia. and in Prussia of those living in Pomerania 
and Brandenburg. 

All these Slavs, although widely dispersed, practiced 
the same heathen rites, spoke the same language, and 
nursed the same traditions, until they fell under different 
influences. They were, however, not the sole occupants 
of northeastern Europe. Other races had followed in 
Attila's wake, and among them the Finns were the 
most numerous and most warlike. They settled in the 
basin of the Dwina and the Kama and named their new 
home Biarmaland. while the Russians called it Great 
Permia, They also occupied what is now known as 
Finland, but which was then known as Land of the 
Suomi. The Finns, more than any other tribe, bore 
evidence of their Asiatic origin. 

Thus the present European Russia was divided among 
a host of tribes, belonging either to the Slav or Finn 
families, and each kept to a great extent the superstitions 
and traditions of his race. Even in our time the traces 
of these superstitions are plainly descernible in many 
parts of Russia. When Christianity was introduced 
among these people, the missionaries found many of the 
barbaric rites so strongly implanted among the people 
that, instead of making vain efforts to uproot them, they 
preferred to admit them under a Christian name. 

The religion of the Slavs bore a great resemblance to 
that of the Xorsemen and of the Germanic races ; that 



27 



is, they worshiped nature and its phenomena. Dagh Bog 
was the sungod ; Perun, the Thor of northern mythology, 
was the god of thunder ; Stri Bog, the god of the winds ; 
Voloss, the protector of flocks. They had neither temples 
nor regular priests, but worshiped the oak as the symbol 
of Perun, and before it the leaders offered sacrifices. 
These ancient deities are preserved under the names of 
St. John, who displaced Perun ; Voloss who became St. 
Vlaise, etc. When a chief died, the wife often refused 
to survive her husband. The men-servants were sum- 
moned and asked which of them would be buried with 
his master. When one of them came forward, he was 
immediately strangled. Then the same question was 
put to the women servants, and if one of them consented, 
she was feasted until the day when the funeral pyre 
awaited the corpse. She was then killed and her body 
burned with that of her master. There were, however, 
some tribes that buried their dead. 

The father was absolute master of his family, but his 
authority did not descend to the eldest son, but to the 
oldest of the family, his brothers, if any were living, 
according to their age. The Slavs kept several wives, 
and were given to consume large quantities of a strong 
drink called kvass. They were a people devoted to 
agriculture ; the land under cultivation was not owned by 
one person or a family, but by all the members of a 
community, or mir. The heads of the families composing 
the mir assembled in a council or vetchc, which had 
authority over the mir. Only the house and the dvor 
or inclosure, and his share in the harvest, were the prop- 
erty of each householder. In the course of time, several 



28 



of these rural communities united in a canton or county, 
called a volost, which was then governed by a council 
composed of the elders of several communes. It happened 
sometimes that one of these elders, who was considered 
unusually wise or powerful, became chief of the volost, 
a dignity which might become hereditary. This was 
probably the origin of the boyards or nobles. As a 
rule, the volosts were proud of their independence ; they 
disliked entangling alliances, although in time of danger 
or necessity they would enter into a confederacy of 
all the counties belonging to the same tribe, which 
was then called plemia. But it was always under- 
stood that such an arrangement was temporary. In 
most of the volosts, there was at least one spot forti- 
fied by earthen walls and wooden palisades, where the 
people might take refuge in case of an attack. 

We know that some of the Slav tribes attained some 
degree of civilization as early as the seventh century of 
our era. Novgorod was a town, large for that time, 
which carried on a brisk trade with Asia. This is amply 
proved by the discovery of Asiatic coins belonging to 
that period. Although the favorite occupation of the 
Slavs was agriculture, the construction of the fortified 
places suggests that they were not averse to increase 
their wealth by an occasional raid upon their unprepared 
neighbors. There is other evidence that Novgorod, 
grown into a wealthy city in the middle of the ninth 
century, longed for peace. No wonder that such a com- 
munity sought for means of security for its commerce. 
But the manner in which it accomplished this desire, 
decided the fate of Russia. 



Ill— THE NORSEMEN (OR VARINGIANS) IN 

RUSSIA 

IT would have been strange indeed, if the bold Norse- 
men, the bold buccaneers who in their frail craft 
pillaged the west coasts of Europe and extended their 
voyages into the Mediterranean, should have omitted to 
pay a visit to the shores of the Baltic Sea. We know that 
they settled in England and France, and it causes no sur- 
prise when we read that the Slavs in the neighborhood of 
the Baltic paid tribute to them. They must have been 
exacting tax collectors, because we read also that, in 859, 
the Slavs rose and expelled their visitors. Three years 
later they returned at the invitation of the people of 
Novgorod. 

Nestor, the historian of the Slav race, who lived in the 
twelfth century, and whose account is remarkably clear 
and trustworthy, wrote that the inhabitants of Novgorod 
" said to the princes of \^aringia, ' Our land is great 
and fertile, but it lacks order and justice; come, take 
possession, and govern us.' " 

The invitation was accepted. Three brothers, Rurik 
or the Peaceful, Sineous or the Victorious, and Truvor or 
the Faithful, proceeded to Russia with their families 
and fighting men. Rurik settled on the south shore of 
Lake Ladoga, Sineous on the \\'hite Lake, and Truvor 

29 



30 

at Izborsk. The two younger brothers died, and Rurik 
moved to Novgorod where he built a castle. At about 
the same time two other Norsemen, Askold and Dir, 
landed in Russia, and went to Kief, then also a flourish- 
ing city, where they were equally well received. They 
persuaded its people to prepare an expedition against 
Czargrad, the City of the Czar or Emperor of the 
Eastern Roman Empire, now known as Constantinople, 
but at that time named Byzantium. The expedition of 
Kief under Askold and Dir sailed down the Dnieper in 
a fleet of 200 large boats, entered the Golden Horn — or 
Bosphorus, — and began the siege of Constantinople. The 
capital was saved by the Patriarch or head of the Greek 
Church, who plunged a wonder-working robe into the 
waves, whereupon a violent storm destroyed the Russian 
fleet. 

The two chiefs, Askold and Dir, must have escaped, 
because they were back at Kief when that city received 
a disagreeable visit. Upon Rurik's death, he was suc- 
ceeded, not by his son Igor, but by his brother Oleg as 
the eldest of the family. The new prince or kiiiac did 
not approve of rival Norsemen in his neighborhood. 
With his own men and a large number of Slavs and 
Finns, he marched upon Kief, and on his way compelled 
Smolensk and Loubetch to submit to his authority. 

When he arrived before Kief, he succeeded in cap- 
turing Askold and Dir who were put to death " because," 
Oleg explained, " they were neither princes themselves, 
nor of the blood of princes." Kief was taken, and Oleg 
took up his residence in that city. 

It is at this time that the name Russia first appears. 




o 
2 



3^ 

Its derivation is doubtful and is, besides, of no great 
importance. Oleg ruled over Russia, that is, the plain 
extending from Kief to Novgorod. There is a story 
that he was defeated by the Hungarians, who had crossed 
the Dnieper, but it is doubtful, because in the year 907, 
we find him preparing another expedition against Con- 
stantinople. On this occasion the people of that capital 
forgot to bring out the robe, and tried to poison the 
invaders, but their scheme was discovered in time ; they 
were forced to pay a heavy tribute and Oleg secured, 
besides, a very advantageous commercial treaty. 

One of the wizards at Oleg's court had warned him 
that his favorite horse would be the cause of his death, 
and the animal was kept away from him until it died. 
Oleg did not believe in wizards ; he insisted upon seeing 
the body and entered the stable. A snake came out of 
the horse's skull and stung Oleg in the foot, and he died 
from the effect of the poison. 

Igor, Rurik's son, was the eldest, and succeeded his 
uncle. He led another expedition against Constantinople, 
but it ended in disaster, because the Russian fleet was 
destroyed by Greek fire. A large number of Russians 
were captured but Igor escaped. This failure did not 
prevent him from again attacking the Byzantine Empire, 
and this time he was successful. The emperor agreed to 
pay tribute and signed another commercial treaty. 

Nestor, the Russian historian, tells us the story of 
Igor's death. '' In the year 945," he says, '' the drujina " 
(that is, the body-guard, composed of Norsemen or their 
descendants), '' of Igor said to him, ' The men of Sveneld 
are richly provided with weapons and garments, while 



33 

we go in rags ; lead us, Prince, to collect the tribute so 
that thou and we may become rich.' Igor consented, 
and conducted them to the Drevlians to raise the tribute. 
He increased the first imposts, and did them violence, 
he and his mien ; after having taken all he wanted, he 
returned to his city. While on the road he bethought 
himself and said to his drujina, ' Go on with the tribute; 
I will go back and try to get some more out of them.' 
Leaving the greater part of his men to go on their way, 
he returned with only a few, to the end that he might 
increase his riches. The Drevlians, when they learnt 
that Igor was coming back, held council with Nal, their 
prince. ' When the wolf enters the sheepfold he slays 
the whole flock, if the shepherd does not slay him. Thus 
it is with us and Igor; if we do not destroy him, we 
are lost.' Then they sent deputies who said to him, 
* why dost thou come anew unto us ? Hast thou not 
collected all the tribute ? ' But Igor would not hear 
them, so the Drevlians came out of the town of Koros- 
thenes, and slew Igor and his men, for they were but a 
few." 

The drujina or body-guard of the duke was at the 
same time his council. The men composing it were con- 
sidered as members of his family ; they ate at his table 
and shared his amusements as well as his toil. He did 
nothing without consulting them, and was really but the 
first among his peers. They formed a court of justice, 
and it was from among them that he appointed the 
voievods or governors of fortresses, and possadniks or 
commandants of large towns. We have a description of 
the courts of that time by an Arab writer named Ibn 



34 

Dost. He says : " When a Russian brings a complaint 
against another, he summons him before the court of 
the prince where both state their case. When the prince 
has pronounced his verdict, his orders are executed ; but 
if both parties are dissatisfied, the dispute must be decided 
by weapons. He whose sword cuts sharper, gains his 
cause. At the time of the fight, the relatives of the two 
adversaries appear armed, and surround the space set 
apart. The combatants then come to blows, and the 
victor may impose any terms he pleases." 

The people of the country, the peasants, were not 
quite so free as when Rurik landed. They began to be 
known as uioujik, a contemptuous diminutive of the word 
mouj or man, literally manikin. The merchants or gosti 
did not form a distinct class, but in larger cities, such as 
Novgorod and Kief, they had a voice in the administra- 
tion. These cities had a vetche or municipal council which 
directed the city's business without any direct interference 
from the prince. The successors of Rurik attended to the 
defense of the country, the administration of justice, and 
the collection of tribute and taxes, which sources of 
revenue were appropriated by them and served for their 
support and for that of the drujina. 

The Slavs of that time exhibited many characteristics 
which we recognize in the Russians of our time. Leo the 
Deacon, a noted writer of that time, mentions that they 
fought in a compact body, and seemed like a wall of 
iron, bristling with lances, glittering with shields, whence 
rang a ceaseless clamor like the waves of the sea. A 
huge shield covered them to their feet, and, when they 
fought in retreat, they turned this enormous buckler 



35 



on their backs and became invulnerable. The fury 
of the battle frenzied them. They were never seen to 
surrender. When victory was lost they stabbed them- 
selves, for they believed that those who died by the hand 
of an enemy were condemned to serve him in the life 
after death. The emperors of Byzantium were glad to 
secure their services, and the ross, as they called them, 
often formed the body-guard. In the Byzantine expedi- 
tion against Crete, 700 Russians served in the army. 

The Norsemen readily adapted themselves to the habits, 
customs, and language of the people among whom they 
settled. We find the Norse names of Rurik, Oleg, and 
Igor, but after the last named their descendants were 
Russians and bore Russian names. 

At Igor's death his son Sviatoslaf was still a minor, 
whose mother, Olga, became Regent. She was a woman 
of determination, whose first thought was to avenge the 
death of her husband. The Drevlians, hearing of her 
preparations, sent two deputations to appease her : not a 
man returned. They were all put to death at her com- 
mand. Nestor tells us that Olga herself commanded 
her warriors at the siege of Korosthenes, and that she 
offered to make peace on payment of a tribute of three 
pigeons and three sparrows for every house. This was 
accepted and the birds were delivered, when she ordered 
lighted tow to be fastened to their tails, and when they 
flew back to the wooden town, they set fire to the houses 
and barns. Korosthenes was then captured and a great 
number of its inhabitants were slaughtered and the rest 
were made slaves. 

It seems strange that such a woman should have been 



36 

the first of Rurik's house to embrace Christianity. There 
is no doubt that she visited Constantinople where she 
astonished the emperor by the force of her character. 
She was baptized and received the name of Helen. It 
is quite possible that she came to Constantinople for that 
purpose, because we read that she refused to be baptized 
at Kief '' for fear of the pagans." This confirms the 
Greek records in which it is stated that a bishop was 
established in Russia, probably at Kief, in the time of 
Oleg. 

It is not strange that Christianity should have taken 
root in Russia after the frequent wars with the Byzantine 
Empire, and considering the commerce carried on between 
_Kief and Constantinople. Missionaries entered Russia at 
an early period. Two of them., Cyril and Methodius, 
prepared a Slavonic alphabet, in which many Greek 
letters were used, and the Bible was translated into that 
language. There is a tradition that Askold was baptized 
after his defeat at Constantinople, and that this is the 
reason why the people still worship at his tomb. at Kief, 
as of that of the first Christian prince. The Norsemen 
had no taste for persecution on account of religious belief, 
but for themselves they clung to the heathen deities. 
When Igor swore to observe the treaty concluded with 
Emperor Leo VI, he went up to the hill of Perun and 
used the ancient Slavonic rites ; but the emperor's 
deputies went to the church of St. Elias, and there laid 
their hands upon the Bible as a token of good faith. 

The drujina and warriors did not take kindly to Chris- 
tianity. They, as well as the peasants, preferred to 
worship Perun and Voloss. The same thing happened 



37 

elsewhere. Christianity made the greatest progress in 
cities, whereas the dwellers on the " heath " remained 
" heathen." " When one of the warriors of the prince 
wished to become a convert," says Nestor, " he was not 
prevented; they simply laughed at him." When Olga 
returned from Constantinople, she was anxious that her 
son, who was of age and had succeeded to his father, 
should follow her example. Sviatoslaf refused ; " my 
men will laugh at me," was his usual answer. Nestor 
mentions that he sometimes lost his temper. Chris- 
tianity did not make much progress during his reign. 

He was a warrior, like his Norse ancestors. In the 
brief time of eight years, 964-972, he found time to wage 
two wars. The first was with the Khazar empire on the 
Don. Sviatoslaf captured its capital, the White City, 
and received tribute from two tribes of the Caucasus. 
The second war did not turn out so well. 

From Nestor's account and that of Leo the Deacon, 
it appears that the Byzantine emperor, wishing to make 
use of Sviatoslaf, decided to find out what sort of man 
he was. He therefore sent him presents of gold and 
fine clothes, but the grandson of Rurik would scarcely 
look at them and told his warriors to take them away. 
W^hen the emperor heard this, he sent him a fine sword 
and other weapons ; these were accepted with every 
token of satisfaction by Sviatoslaf. When the emperor 
was informed of the result, he exclaimed : " This must 
be a fierce man, because he despises wealth and accepts 
a sword as tribute." 

This did not prevent the emperor, who had a private 
quarrel with Peter, Czar of Bulgaria, from urging 
Sto. of Russia — 3 



38 

Sviatoslaf to make war upon his enemy. The Russian 
gave a hearty consent, and in a very short time he 
captured several fortresses and Pereiaslaf, the capital, 
fell into his hands. He determined to transfer his capital 
there, and when he returned to Kief, he told his mother 
of the city on the Danube. " The place," he said, " is 
the central point of my territory, and abounds in wealth. 
Precious goods, gold, wine, and all kinds of fruit, come 
from Greece. Silver and horses are brought from the 
country of the Czechs and Hungarians, and the Russians 
bring money, furs, wax, and slaves." 

Meanwhile the emperor of Constantinople was dead ; 
his successor, John Zimisces was a very different man, 
who preferred having a weak Bulgarian ruler as his 
neighbor, instead of an empire which, even at that time, 
extended from Lakes Ladoga and Onega to the Balkans. 
He, therefore, made up his mind to oust the Russians. 
Sviatoslaf had left Bulgaria, but he returned and recon- 
quered it, when he received a demand from the new 
emperor to execute the treaty entered into with his 
predecessor, that is, to leave Bulgaria. Sviatoslaf 
replied proudly that he expected to visit the emperor at 
Constantinople before long, but Zimisces, a brave and 
able man, took measures to prevent it. Before Sviatoslaf 
expected him, Zimisces attacked and defeated the Rus- 
sians in the defiles of the Balkan, and soon after stormed 
and captured Pereiaslaf. Eight thousand Russians with- 
drew into the castle, which they defended heroically; 
They refused to surrender and, when the castle was set 
on fire, they perished in the flames. 

When Sviatoslaf heard of this disaster, he advanced 



39 

against the emperor. The Greek historian says that the 
Russian army was 60,000 men strong, but Nestor gives 
the number at 10,000. The two armies met and both 
fought with desperate valor, but at last the Russians gave 
way before the furious charges of the Greek cavalry — 
the Ironsides — and withdrew to Dorostol. Zimisces 
started in pursuit, and laid siege to the city where the 
same courage was displayed. After Sviatoslaf drew his 
men up out of the city and prepared to give battle, 
Zimisces proposed to him to decide the issue by a personal 
fight, but the offer was declined. " I know better than 
my enemy what I have to do," said Sviatoslaf. " If 
he is weary of life, there are a thousand ways by which 
he can end his days." The battle ended in defeat for the 
Russians who, Leo the Deacon tells us, left 15,500 dead, 
and 20 000 shields on the battlefield. Sviatoslaf was 
compelled to come to terms. Zimisces permitted him 
and what remained of his army to return to Russia, after 
he had sworn by Rerun and Voloss that he would never 
again invade the empire, but would help in defending it 
against its enemies. If he broke his oath, he wished that 
he might " become as yellow as gold, and perish by his 
own arms." Zimisces showed the nobility of a brave man. 
He sent messengers to a warlike tribe requesting a free, 
passage for the Russians ; but this tribe was anxious to 
seize the opportunity. Sviatoslaf and his men were 
attacked near the Cataracts of the Dnieper ; he was 
killed, but most of his men escaped. (A. D. 972.) 




(40> 



Vladimir 



IV— SAINT VLADIMIR AND lAROSLAF THE 

GREAT 

SVIATOSLAE had divided the empire among his three 
sons ; he left Novgorod to Vladimir, the eldest ; 
Oleg, the second, was made prince of the Drevlians, and 
the youngest, laropolk, received Kief. As happens often, 
none of the three was satisfied with his share, and 
civil wars followed. Oleg was killed by laropolk, where- 
upon the youngest son of Sviatoslaf was slain by his 
brother Vladimir, who thus became the sole heir and 
successor to his father. His first act was to make 
war upon Poland. He compelled it to restore Red 
Russia or Old Gallicia, a territory in our trnie divided 
into seven governments, or provinces. He also reduced 
two revolted tribes, and forced the Lithuanians and 
Livonians to pay tribute. 

At the beginning of his reign, Vladimir showed an 
unusual devotion to the old Slav gods. He erected idols 
on the sandy cliffs of Kief ; that of Rerun had a head 
of silver and a beard of gold. It seems that after some 
time he became displeased with this religion and, Nestor 
tells us, he grew anxious to know what religion was the 
best. He, therefore, sent deputies to Bulgaria to study 
the Moslem or Mohammedan creed, and to the Khazars, 

41 



42 

who occupied the plain between the Bug and the Volga, 
to make inquiries about the Jewish faith. From the 
Poles and Germans he wanted to know all about the 
Roman Catholic Church, and at Constantinople he ex- 
pected to learn of the Greek faith. When these deputies 
returned and reported to him, Vladimir selected the Greek 
Church, which choice was approved by his drujina; "if 
the Greek religion had not been the best, your grand- 
mother Olga, the wisest of mortals, would not have 
adopted it," said they. Thus Vladimir became a convert ; 
but his method of showing it was rather peculiar. 

He might have been baptized by the bishop of Kief ; 
or, if he had applied at Constantinople, the emperor 
would gladly have sent him a high prelate to perform 
the service. Instead of this, \dadimir collected an army 
and marched against Kherson, — the last city in Russia 
held by the Byzantine. It was taken by means of treach- 
ery, and from this city Vladimir sent to Constantinople 
to demand in marriage the sister of the two emperors 
Basil and Constantine. Although the emperors did not 
like the proposed connection, they consented because they 
feared an invasion, but made it a condition that Vlad- 
imir should be baptized. The ceremony was performed at 
Kherson ; soon after the bride arrived and the marriage 
took place in the same city. When he returned to Kief, 
he carried with him the priests and sacred ornaments 
taken from the churches of Kherson. 

Upon his return to Kief, he began missionary work by 
his own peculiar methods. His first orders were to pull 
down the idols ; during the execution the people wept, 
moaned, and wrung their hands. Perun's image was 



43 

handsomely flogged and thrown into the Dnieper. Since 
it was made of wood, it soon came to the surface, which 
was looked upon as a miracle by the people who rushed 
down to worship it. But Vladimir's soldiers gave it 
another bath, and this time it was caught by the current 
and drifted away. The cliff where it stood is still known 
at Kief as " the devil's leap," and the spot where Perun 
floated ashore, is shown to visitors. 

After thus getting rid of the idols, A^ladimir com- 
manded the people of Kief, men, women, and children, 
to plunge into the Dnieper, which had been consecrated 
for the occasion, that they might be baptized. When they 
had obeyed his order, the priests read the service, so 
that after entering into the river as heathen, they left it 
as Christians. The people of Novgorod were converted 
in the same swift and practical manner, since no attention 
was paid to their objections. 

Heathen temples were next converted into churches, 
which were decorated by Greek artists. A'ladimir erected 
at Kief the church of St. Basil, on the place where Perun's 
image had stood. Numerous other churches were built; 
he also founded schools where the Bible was taught in 
the Slav language. At first the people objected to send 
their children, because they looked upon reading and 
writing as magic. But Vladimir had persuasive ways, 
and was not likely to be deterred by such opposition. 
Nestor admired him very much. He says that Vladimir 
was a different man after he had been converted ; that he 
was so afraid of committing a sin, that he hesitated to 
inflict capital punishment, until the bishop reminded 
him that crime must be punished. He also divided his 



44 

income among the churches, and thus became the Saint 
Vladimir of Russia. Popular ballads keep alive the 
memory of the first Christian prince. He is often men- 
tioned in them as " The Beautiful Sun " of Kief. 

It cannot be supposed that the Russian people were 
converted at once into good Christians by Vladimir's 
forceful method. Several centuries were to pass away 
before the peasants could be induced to part with their 
heathen customs. The priests preferred to let them 
remain under a Christian name. There is something 
mystic in the Slav character. He nurses the belief in 
magicians and sorcerers, which has never been uprooted. 
It is seen at present in the worship of the eikon or saint's 
image. 

Vladimir died in 1015. He, too, divided Russia among 
his numerous sons. One of them, laroslaf, received 
Novgorod, where he began to interfere with the rights 
of the people. A deputation of leading citizens came to 
him with a protest. He ordered their arrest and con- 
demned them to death. Meanwhile Vladimir's other 
heirs had indulged in the usual quarrels and wars, until 
it seemed as if Sviatopolk, a nephew, would become the 
sole ruler. laroslaf then called the principal people of 
Novgorod together, and threw himself upon their gen- 
erosity. They forgave him and promised their support. 
They kept their word, and after a long and bloody war 
he entered Kief as his father's successor. 

laroslaf was unfortunate in a war with the Byzantine 
Empire. The. Russian fleet was badly defeated in the 
Bosphorus ; 8,000 men were killed, and 800 prisoners 
were taken to Constantinople. 



45 

Of greater importance was laroslaf's work at home. 
He built churches and monasteries ; St. Sophia church 
was the pride of Kief ; the monastery of The Catacombs 
still draws pilgrims from all parts of Russia. Kief 
became known as " the city of four hundred churches." 
He also founded a school for three hundred boys at 
Novgorod, thereby showing that Russia at that time 
was second to no European nation. 

Kief, under his reign, was one of the most prosperous 
cities. This was due to her situation on the Dnieper and 
her trade with the Byzantine Empire, to the great fertility 
of the Black Earth land, and to laroslaf's connection by 
marriage with the reigning families of Europe. Of his 
daughters Elizabeth was the wife of the King of Norway, 
Anne of the King of France, and Anastasia of the King 
of Hungary ; his sister Mary was married to the King 
of Poland, and his sons had married into royal families. 
Merchants from Holland, Germany, Hungary, and Scan- 
dinavia were established at Kief. The Dnieper was alive 
with merchant vessels, and she counted eight markets. 
It is evident that laroslaf took pains to protect and 
advance commerce. He had coins minted with his Slav 
name on one side, and his Christian name loUry (George), 
on the other. 

Perhaps his greatest work is the code of laws estab- 
lished by him, known as the Riisska'ia Pravda or Russian 
Right. Though necessarily primitive, it was a long step 
in advance of that time. It followed chiefly the ideas of 
right and wrong according to the conceptions of the 
Scandinavians. 

At this time, although the dignity of kniaz, duke or 



46 

prince, was hereditary in the family of Rurik, it was 
understood by all parties that the reign of the prince 
depended upon the consent of his subjects, and perhaps 
more still upon that of his drujina. A story is told that 
in Madimir's time the drujina complained that they were 
made to eat from wooden bowls, whereupon he gave 
them silver ones, saying: I could not buy myself a drujina 
with gold and silver; but with a drujina, I can acquire 
gold and silver, as did my father and my grandfather. 

Ever since Kief had been the residence of Rurik's 
descendants, they had been recognized as Grand Dukes, 
because they represented the eldest of the descend- 
ants. They did not, as a rule, interfere with the 
administration, but were the dukes, the commanders of the 
armies. ^lany districts had such a duke, who was, 
however, invariably of the blood of Rurik, and recognized 
the superior authority as the eldest of the blood. W^hen 
the Grand Duke of Kief died, he was not succeeded by 
his son, unless he had neither uncle nor brother living : 
but it was within the power of the grand duke to leave 
one or more districts to his sons. 

The descendants of the Norsemen were, therefore, 
the defenders of the districts which they ruled as dukes. 
Novgorod and Pskof were republics on the northwest 
frontier, and usually had the same duke. Smolensk was 
an important dukedom, because it contained the sources 
of the A'olga, the Dnieper, and the Dwina, and embraced 
the ancient forest of Okof. Not far from it was the 
dukedom of Toropetz. On the Upper Oka was Tcher- 
nigof — a rival of Kief ; further to the south was Nov- 
gorod- Swerki, and east of the Upper Don, extending as 



47 

far as the Oka. were Riazan and ]\Iourom. The dukedom 
of Souzdal inhabited by a mixture of Finns and Slavs, 
was in the north, the soil still covered by forests. 
Southeast Russia embraced Red Russia, that is Volhynia 
and Gallicia Proper. 

The introduction of the Greek Church caused impor- 
tant changes. The Greek Priests could not comprehend 
the relation between the people and its defenders. To 
them the duke was not a dii.r (leader), but a Caesar. 
Kaiser, or Czar, ruling, not with the consent of the 
governed, but by the grace of God. as did the emperors at 
Constantinople. This idea gradually penetrated into the 
minds of the several dukes, until it was accepted and en- 
forced by them. 

Another very important change was effected bv the 
Greek religion. W^e have seen that according to the old 
Slav customs, it was not the son who succeeded as the 
head of the family, but its eldest member. It appears 
that the same custom prevailed among the Norsemen, 
as we have seen that it was Rurik's brother, and not his 
son who succeeded him. In the Byzantine Empire, the 
oldest son was the heir, and the priests tried to introduce 
this as a law. 

As the descendants of Rurik increased in number, it 
was not always easy to determine who was entitled to 
the succession. Hence there were often several claimants, 
and as a result, civil wars followed. These wars, strange 
as it may appear, served to bind the dukedoms together, 
.because most of them were waged for the purpose of 
establishing the claim of a duke upon the possession of 
Kief. 



48 

laroslaf died In 1054, and was buried in the church of 
St. Sophia at Kief. In his will we see the effect of the 
Greek Church, for he specially appointed his eldest son 
Isiaslaf as his successor. A younger brother, Sviatoslaf, 
took up arms, and expelled him in 1073. Upon his death 
in 1076, Isiaslaf returned to Kief, w^here he lived two 
years. He died in 1078, and was succeeded by his 
brother A'sevolod, who was grand duke until 1093, 
when he was succeeded by Sviatopolk, the son of Isiaslaf, 
as the eldest of the family. He was not opposed by dj 
Vsevolod's famous son Vladimir Monomachus, who 
'admitted that Sviatopolk's " father was older than mine, 
and reigned first in Kief." 



V— A RUSSIAN REPUBLIC 

SVIATOPOLK reigned from 1093 to 11 13. It was at 
this time that Russia was disturbed by two civil 
wars. At the instance of Vladimir Monomachus a con- 
gress of dukes met in 1097, at Loubetch on the Dnieper to 
discuss the folly of civil wars which placed the country 
at the mercy of its enemies. An agreement was con- 
cluded, wherein the dukes swore upon the Cross that 
'' henceforth the Russian land shall be considered the 
country of us all, and whoso shall dare arm himself 
against his brother, shall be our common enemy." 

Soon after this a quarrel broke out about the succession 
of Voihynia, and again the country was plunged into 
civil strife, which lasted two years. In iioo another 
congress was held at A'ititchevo, on the left bank of the 
Dnieper, where the dispute was settled, and it was 
resolved to unite in a war with a powerful nomad people. 
The Russians under A'ladimir Monomachus gained a 
brilliant victory ; the nomads had seventeen khans killed 
on the battlefield. 

When Sviatopolk died, the people of Kief declared that 
they would have no grand duke except Madimir. He 
declined saying that there were elder heirs entitled to the 
succession ; but when troubles broke out in the city, he 

49 



50 



gave his consent. During his reign of twelve years, 
from 1 1 13 to 1 125, Kief reached the height of prosperity 
and power. He reduced Souzdal, in the north, to sub- 
mission, and made many improvements. His memory is 
cherished in Russia. He compiled a set of instructions 
for his sons, from which we may judge of his character. 
Among other remarks, he says : " It is neither by fasting, 
nor solitude, nor the life in a cloister that will procure 
for you the life eternal, — it is doing good. Do not forget 
the poor but feed them. Do not bury your wealth in 
the bosom of the earth, for that is contrary to the precepts 
of Christianity. Be a father to orphans, judge the cause 
of widows yourself." '' Put to death no one be he 
innocent or guilty, for nothing is more precious than 
the soul of a Christian." " When you have learned any- 
thing useful, try to preserve it in your memory, and strive 
ceaselessly to acquire knowledge. Without ever leaving 
his palace, my father spoke five languages, a thing that 
foreigners admire in lis." 

There are in the museum at Moscow, a throne and 
crown, supposed to have belonged to this noble and 
patriotic duke ; unfortunately it has been shown that they 
were never in his possession. 

In his will, Vladimir gave the dukedom of Souzdal to 
his son George Dolgorouki, and another son, Mstislaf, 
succeeded as grand duke at Kief. When the latter died 
in 1 146, leaving the grand dukedom to his son Isiaslaf, 
George Dolgorouki claimed the succession as the eldest 
of the family. Both sides were supported by their 
friends, and some fierce battles were fought, but Isiaslaf 
maintained himself until his death in 1 157. After his 



51 

reign. Kief's importance began to decrease. Twelve 
years later, in 1169, it was captured by the Russians of 
the north. A native historian ^ says of this event : " This 
mother of Russian cities had been many times besieged 
and oppressed. She had often opened her Golden Gate 
to her enemies, but none had ever yet entered by force. 
To their eternal shame, the victors forgot that they, too, 
were Russians ! During three days not only the houses, 
but the cloisters, churches, and even the temples of St. 
Sophia and the Dime, were given over to pillage. The 
precious images, the sacerdotal ornaments, the books, 
and the bells, — all were carried off." 

With the fall of Kief, the scene of Russian activity 
shifts to the north. There, in the dukedom of Souzdal, 
George Dolgorouki laid, in 1147. the foundation of a 
town, AIoscow, on a height overlooking the Ixloscowa. 
For many years it remained an obscure village, and gave 
no sign of its future greatness. 

The chief interest at this time centers about the Russian 
republics, Novgorod, Pskof, and Viatka. Although Nov- 
gorod did not possess the advantages of Kief, since its 
soil was sandy, marshy, and unproductive, the enterprise 
of its people made it the wealthiest and most populous 
city of Russia. It is recorded that it counted 100,000 
inhabitants, when Rurik arrived in Russia. He and 
his immediate successors were satisfied with the position 
of Defender, which suited their warlike and blunt char- 
acter, and with the revenues assigned to them, which with 
the spoils taken from the enemy, were ample for their 
wants. These republics were administered by a vetche 

1 Karamsin. 



5^ 

or municipal council, with a possadnik or burgomaster, 
whose duty it was to see that the city's privileges were 
preserved, and who distributed the taxes. He shared 
with the duke in the administration of justice. There 
was a militia for the defense of the people's rights, com- 
manded by a tysatski. Every ward of the city had a 
starost, charged with preserving the peace. It is said 
that a written constitution, partaking of the nature of the 
Magna Charta, was granted to Novgorod by laroslaf 
the Great. The duke's rights and privileges, his duties 
and his revenues, were carefully set down. He was 
entitled to the tribute of some of the volosts, — cantons 
or counties, — and to certain fines ; he could gather in 
his harvests at stated times, and was not permitted to 
hunt in the forest except in the autumn. He could 
neither execute nor annul a judgment without the 
approval of the possadnik, and he was expressly forbidden 
to carry a lawsuit beyond Novgorod. Every duke, 
before he entered upon his office, was compelled to take 
an oath to this constitution. 

The members of the vetche were elected by a unani- 
mous vote, instead of by a majority. This gave rise to 
frequent, and sometimes very serious disorder, because 
if a minority did not approve of the candidate, they were 
apt to be illtreated. There were occasions when two 
rival vetches were elected, and when this happened in 
the two parts of the city divided by the river Volkhof, 
the bridge between them was often the scene of a free 
fight. Owing to the extensive trade connections, the mer- 
chants trading with western Europe by way of the Baltic 
sought to promote friendly relations with the dukes 



S3 

of the west, who had it in their power to promote 
or obstruct their trade ; but the merchants deahng with 
Asia, and those who connected with Constantinople had 
other interests to consider and to guard. Thus there 
were often three parties, each concerned with its own 
interests, and forgetting that their prosperity was first 
and chiefly dependent upon the power of the republic, 
they rendered it an easy prey for an ambitious duke. 
The people, however, boasted of their patriotism, and 
during the early period they were strong enough to 
defy the duke. On some occasions, he and his drujina 
were expelled, or, as they expressed it, " the people made 
him a reverence, and showed him a way to leave." Some- 
times, too, it happened that the duke was made a prisoner, 
and confined in the Archbishop's palace. When Sviato- 
polk was Grand Duke of Kief (1093-1113), he wished 
to force one of his sons upon the people of Novgorod. 
" Send him along," said they, '' if he has a head to 
spare ! " Usually the duke was glad to leave Novgorod, 
if he could secure another dukedom. In 1132, Vsevolod 
Gabriel left Novgorod to become Duke of Pereiaslaf, 
hoping to succeed as Grand Duke of Kief. Seeing no 
way to attain the coveted dignity, he signified his wish to 
return to the people of Novgorod. '' You have forgotten 
your oath to die with us," they replied ; " you have 
sought another dukedom ; now you may go where you 
please. In this case, however, the people changed their 
mind, and did take him back; but four years afterwards 
they expelled him, declaring that " he took no care of the 
poor people ; he desired to establish himself at Pereiaslaf ; 
at the battle of Mount Idanof against the men of Souz- 
Sto. of Russia — 4 



54 

dal, he and his drujina were the first to leave the battle- 
field ; he was fickle in the quarrels of the dukes, some- 
times joining one party and sometimes the other." 

So long as the descendants of Rurik remained satisfied 
with their position, Novgorod had enough men and 
resources to maintain its independence ; but more than 
that was required after the dukes had tasted of the 
sweets of unlimited power. 

George Dolgorouki had established colonies in Souzdal. 
The land was his, the colonists were his subjects. He 
was no longer merely the defender, he was the owner, not 
the duke, but the prince. There w^as no vetche or 
popular assembly in his possessions. His son, Andrew 
Bogolioubski, was brought up and educated amid these 
conditions, more in conformity with those prevailing in 
Greece and other parts of Europe, where the people were 
supposed to exist for the sole benefit of their prince. It 
was he who ruined Kief, and the fall of that city fore- 
told the doom of Novgorod. " The fall of Kief," says 
a Russian author, ^ " seemed to foreshadow the loss of 
Novgorod liberty ; it was the same army, and it was the 
same prince who commanded it. But the people of 
Kief, accustomed to change their masters, — to sacrifice 
the vanquished to the victors, — only fought for the honor 
of their dukes, while those of Novgorod were to shed 
their blood for the defense of the laws and institutions 
established by their ancestors." 

During his father's life, Andrew left his castle on the 
Dnieper, and moved northward to Vladimir which town 
he enlarged, and where he founded a quarter named 

1 Karamsin. 



55 

Bogolioubovo, whence his name of BogoHoubski. After 
the death of George Dolgorouki, Andrew first made a 
successful campaign against the Bulgarians, and then, 
after sacking Kief, he turned his attention toward Nov- 
gorod, where he had established one of his nephews. The 
cause of the quarrel is not known, but Andrew began by 
compelling the neighboring dukes to join him, and over- 
ran the territory of the republic with fire and sword. The 
people of Novgorod, remembering the fate of Kief, were 
prepared to die in the defense of the city. The siege 
commenced. One day the Archbishop took the eikon — 
image — of the Mrgin, which was carried around in 
solemn procession. It ^as struck by an arrow shot by 
a Souzdalian soldier, when miraculous tears appeared 
upon its face. The besiegers were struck by a panic, 
and the people of Novgorod sallied out, killed a number 
of the enemy, and took so many prisoners that " you 
could get six Souzdalians for a grivna." Whatever may 
have been the value of that coin, the market was evidently 
overstocked with Souzdalians. 

Foiled in this attempt, Andrew tried other means. He 
prohibited the sale of grain to the people of Novgorod, 
who were thereby compelled to make peace. They did 
not surrender any of their privileges but accepted as 
their duke the prince selected by Andrew. 

His next war was with Mstislaf the Brave, Duke of 
Smolensk, who, aided by his brothers, had taken Kief. 
Andrew sent a herald to him demanding the evacuation 
of Kief, and imposing a fine upon each brother. Alstislaf 
who, the Russians say, " feared none but God," gave 
orders to have the herald's head and beard shaved, — a 



56 

gross insult at that time, — and then dismissed him, 
saying : " Go and repeat these words unto your master, — 
' Up to this time we have respected you like a father, but 
since you do not blush to treat us as your vassals and 
common people, since you have forgotten that you speak 
to princes, we laugh at your threats. Execute them ! — 
we appeal to the judgment of God.' " The challenge was 
accepted, and Andrew was defeated. 

The Duke of Souzdal did not relax in his attempts to 
established absolute government. It was with this pur- 
pose in view that he expelled his three brothers, and made 
friends of the priests. Kief was still the residence of the 
Metropolitan or head of the Qreek Church in Russia, 
and Andrew was anxious that he should transfer his 
residence to Vladimir so as to make that city the religious 
center of Russia. His wish was not gratified. He failed 
in everything, except in making enemies by his disregard 
of law. He was murdered in 1174 in his favorite palace 
at Bogolioubovo, by his own boyards or nobles. 



VI— TROUBLOUS TIMES 

THE death of Andrew was a welcome relief for the 
people of Novgorod. They celebrated it by attack- 
ing the houses of the rich, and committed so many 
excesses that the priests made a procession with the 
eikons. In Souzdal there was trouble about the succes- 
sion. Two of Andrew's brothers returned from exile, and 
claimed the dukedom, and the city of Vladimir gave 
them its support. That was enough for Souzdal and 
Rostof to recognize another claimant, one of Andrew's 
nephews. Vladimir was victorious in the contest, and 
Andrew's brother, Michael, became Grand Duke of Souz- 
dal. He died two years afterwards, and the people of 
Souzdal once more refused to recognize Vladimir's candi- 
date, Andrew's other brother Vsevolod, surnamed the 
Big Nest on account of his numerous family. Vladimir 
defeated Souzdal and Vsevolod was its grand duke 
from 1 176 to 1212. The people of Novgorod thought 
best to pacify him. They sent a deputation to Vladimir, 
to tell Vsevolod, " Lord and Grand Duke, our country is 
your patrimony ; we entreat you to send us the grandson 
of George Dolgorouki, the great-grandson of Mono- 
machus, to govern us." The request was granted, and 
Vsevolod's eldest son Constantine came to Novgorod. 

57 



58 

The grand duke, however, was soon displeased with 
him and displaced hini by a younger son, laroslaf. Soon 
there were quarrels between him and the people, where- 
upon laroslaf moved to Torjok, a town within Novgorod 
territory, and from there stopped all supplies. Famine 
appeared in the city, and at last envoys were sent to the 
duke, who had them arrested. Nothing except absolute 
submission would satisfy him. In this dire need help 
came from an unexpected quarter. IMstislaf the Bold, 
son of Mstislaf the Brave, Duke of Smolensk, heard 
of Novgorod's plight and sent word to the city, " Torjok 
shall not hold itself higher than Novgorod. I will deliver 
your lands and citizens, or leave my bones among you." 
He was as good as his word. There was a great war 
between Souzdal and Smolensk ; no quarter was asked or 
given. In 1216, A'sevolod's sons were attacked at Lipetsk 
by the troops of Novgorod and Smolensk, with such fury 
that they were routed, and 9,000 were killed whereas 
only 60 were taken prisoners. laroslaf renounced Nov- 
gorod and released the citizens arrested by him. 

Constantine succeeded his father A'sevolod, but died 
in 1217, and another brother, George, became Grand Duke 
of Souzdal. This prince made an expedition down the 
A'olga, levying tribute as he proceeded. In 1220, he laid 
the foundation of Nishni Novgorod, and of several 
villages in what was then Alordvian territory. 

Meanwhile Mstislaf the Bold resigned as Grand Duke 
of Novgorod in an assembly of the people, saying, 
'' I salute St. Sophia, the tomb of my father, ^ and you. 
People of Novgorod, I am going to reconquer Galitch 

1 Mstislaf the Brave was buried in the church of St. Sophia. 



59 

from the strangers, but I shall never forget you. I hope 
I may lie by the tomb of my father in St. Sophia." The 
people implored him to remain ; but he had made up his 
mind, and in 1218 he left for the southwest, where he 
did succeed in conquering Galitch, that is the name given 
to southwestern Russia at that time. 

After his departure the people of Novgorod called his 
nephew Sviatoslaf as their grand duke, but soon there 
was a quarrel. The possadnik Tferdislaf caused the 
arrest of one of the wealthy citizens, whose friends rose 
to set him free. Then the burgomaster's friends came 
and there was a fight in which ten men were killed. The 
grand duke then demanded the dismissal of the burgo- 
master, and the vetche assembled to hear both sides. The 
grand duke was asked what crime the possadnik had 
committed. 

" None," he replied, " but it is my will that he be dis- 
missed." 

The burgomaster then said : *' I am satisfied, because 
I am not accused of any fault ; as for you, my brothers, 
you can dismiss alike possadniks and dukes." 

The vetche consulted, and announced its decision : 

" Prince, since you do not accuse the possadnik of any 
fault, remember that you have sworn to depose no 
magistrate without trial. Tferdislaf will remain our 
possadnik, — we will not deliver him to you." 

Sviatoslaf was very much displeased and resigned, 
and one of his brothers, Vsevolod, was appointed in his 
place. This was in 1219; two years later, in 1221, 
Vsevolod was expelled, and the people called back that 
same laroslaf from whom they had been rescued by 



6o 



Mstislaf the Bold. Soon there was another dispute and 
he was sent about his business. Vsevolod of Smolensk 
was again made duke, but the people soon grew tired of 
him. At this time the Grand Duke of Souzdal inter- 
fered ; he made Novgorod pay him tribute, and appointed 
a prince of Tchernigof as its duke ; but he did not like 
the place and resigned. Then the city suffered from a 
famine, when 42,000 citizens perished and a fire destroyed 
a whole quarter of the city. laroslaf was made duke for 
the fourth time ; the spirit of the people was broken, and 
he was permitted to rule over them as he pleased. He 
succeeded as grand duke in 1236, when he left his son 
Alexander Nevski as duke in Novgorod. 

The east coast of the Baltic was considered tributary to 
Novgorod. Several colonies had been established on 
the Diina and south of that river, but in the 12th and 13th 
centuries missionaries and merchants from Germany 
appeared and gradually penetrated as far as the Diina 
where Bishop Meinhard, in 1187, built a Roman Catholic 
Church and a fortress. The Livonians were converted 
much as St. Vladimir had made Christians of the people 
of Kief ; but in this case, the people of Livonia revolted ; 
in 1 198 the second bishop was killed in battle, and the 
natives returned to the heathen gods. Pope Innocent III 
ordered a crusade against them. Another bishop sailed 
up the Diina with a fleet of twenty-three ships, and in 
1200 founded Riga. The year after a religious society, 
the Sword-bearers, resembling the Templars, was in- 
stalled in Livonia, and the natives appealed to the Duke 
of Polotsk for help. They marched upon Riga and were 
defeated in 1206. 



6i 



German colonization proceeded actively under the 
Sword-bearers. Several cities were founded, and the 
country was divided into fiefs, according to the feudal 
system of Western Europe. The towns were modeled 
after Hamburg, Bremen, and Liibeck. Riga grew into 
a large and powerful city. 

In 1225, another religious brotherhood, the Teutonic 
Order, entered into Lithuania, and twelve years later 
the two orders united. The introduction of the Roman 
Catholic religion carried with it the elements of Roman 
civilization, and did much toward estranging the natives 
of the Baltic provinces from the Russians of the east. 

Southwestern Russia, or Galitch, had, more than any 
other section, preserved the old Slav character. " The 
duke was a prince of the old Slavonic type. He was 
elected by a popular assembly, and kept his seat by its 
consent." ^ The assembly was composed of boyards or 
nobles, and sometimes disputes occurred between them 
and the duke, which ended in more or less serious dis- 
orders. In 1 188, the position was offered to Roman, 
Duke of Volhynia. He accepted, but before he could 
enter the capital, a duke who had been expelled was re- 
installed. After his death, Roman entered the territory 
of Galitch, not as an elected duke, but as a conqueror at 
the head of an army, and treated the dukedom as a con- 
quest. He was especially cruel to the boyards, treating 
their rights and privileges with scorn. Russian authors 
praise him ; one of them says that he " walked in the ways 
of God, exterminated the heathen, flung himself like a 
lion upon the infidels, zvas savage as a unld cat, deadly as 

1 Kostomarof . 



62 



a crocodile, swooped down on his prey like an eagle," 
which seem strange qualities for praise. Roman died in 
battle, in 1205. Mstislaf the Bold conquered Galitch 
and at his death, in 1228, his son-in-law Daniel became 
duke. 

We have seen that, in the 13th century, Russia was 
divided into a number of small states, most of them under 
a duke, but all possessing some degree of liberty, except 
in the north where the duke was being changed into 
an hereditary monarch. We have also seen that Russia 
was part of Europe, and that commercial relations were 
maintained. At the same time, just as there had been an 
invisible but none the less real dividing line between the 
Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire and the west of 
Europe, so with the adoption of the Greek Church, Russia 
inherited the oriental type and principles which separated 
that form of Christianity from that of Rome. Thus the 
slight split grew gradually into a schism, as Western 
Europe progressed with every evolution of the Roman 
Church, whereas Russia remained stationary. 

Byzantium or Constantinople, situated at the eastern- 
most edge of Europe, owing to its intimate association 
with the Persians who, at the time represented the 
Oriental character, was more of an oriental than a west- 
ern city ; its sympathies were also with its neighbors of 
the east. There was thus an oriental tendency in Russia 
as well as in the Byzantine Empire, and this vague senti- 
ment enabled Russia to bend before a blast, which would 
have withered any nation of a more pronounced occidental 
character. 



VII— THE YELLOW PERIL 

ON the borders of the Chinese Empire, in the north- 
east of Asia, roamed a Mongol tribe, known as the 
Tartars or Tatars. A Chinese author of that time, 
described them as follows : " The Ta-tzis ^ or Das occupy 
themselves exclusively with their flocks ; they go wander- 
ing ceaselessly from pasture to pasture, from river to 
river. They are ignorant of the nature of a town or a 
wall. They are ignorant of writing and books ; their 
treaties are concluded orally. From infancy they are 
accustomed to ride, to aim their arrows at rats and 
birds, and thus acquire the courage essential to their 
life of wars and destruction. They have neither religious 
ceremonies nor judicial institutions. From the prince 
to the lowest among the people, all are fed by the flesh of 
the animals whose skin they use for clothing. The strong- 
est among them have the largest and fattest morsels at 
feasts ; the old men are put off with the fragments that 
are left. They respect nothing but strength and courage ; 
age and weakness are condemned." 

The people were, therefore, nomads, moving their 
flocks as necessity required, and occasionally making 
a raid upon a neighboring town. " They move on horse- 
back ; " says the Chinese author ; " when they wish to 

1 Ta, great ; hence : the Great Tzis. 
^3 



64 

capture a town, they fall on the suburban villages. Each 
leader seizes ten men, and every prisoner is forced to 
carry a certain quantity of wood, stones, and other 
material. They use these for filling up moats or to dig 
trenches. In the capture of a town the loss of a myriad 
men was thought nothing. No place could resist them. 
After a siege, the entire population was massacred, with- 
out distinction of old or young, rich or poor, beautiful 
or ugly, those who resisted or those who yielded ; no 
distinguished person escaped death, if a defense was 
attempted." 

These nomad Tartars were united by and under 
Genghis Khan (i 154-1227), one of their chiefs or khans. 
He summoned all the khans of the several tribes, and 
before them took the title of emperor over all, declaring 
that, as there was only one sun in heaven, so there should 
be but one emperor on earth. At the head of his tribes, 
Genghis conquered Manchuria and North China; then 
he moved west. He himself remained in Asia, but two of 
his lieutenants proceeded in that direction, subduing the 
tribes on their way, and often joined by them. The 
long march had rendered the Tartars inured to hardship 
and wholly indifferent to danger. At last they passed by 
the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and, crossing the 
Caucasus, commenced the invasion of Europe. 

The march of such a host could not be kept secret. 
When the Polovtsi, the old enemies of Russia, heard of 
the approach, they sent for help to the Christian dukes. 
" When they have taken our country, they will take 
yours," they said. Mstislaf the Bold of Galitch, urged 
that the assistance be granted, and the chief of the 



65 

Polovtsi agreed to enter the Greek Church. The Rus- 
sians assembled on the lower Dnieper, where they were 
approached by some Tatar envoys who told them that 
they had " come by God's command against our slaves 
and grooms, the accursed Polovtsi. Be at peace with us ; 
we have no quarrel with you." The envoys were arrested 
and put to death. The Russian army then moved east- 
ward, and met the Tartar host at the Kalka, a small river 
running into the Sea of Azof. Instead of waiting for 
the troops still on the way, Mstislaf the Bold and his 
friends began the battle. While it was at its height, the 
Polovtsi were seized by a panic and, falling back, threw 
the Russians into disorder. The Russian army was 
routed ; six dukes and seventy high boyards were left 
dead on the battlefield, and hardly a tenth of the army 
escaped. The Grand Duke of Kief still occupied a 
fortified camp on the Kalka. The Tartars offered to 
allow him and his drujina to retire upon payment of a 
ransom. He accepted, and was attacked by the Tartars 
after he had left his fortifications. He and his two sons 
were stifled under boards, and his guard was massacred. 

The Tartars at this time needed all their men to com- 
plete the conquest of China, and therefore the armies 
invading Europe were recalled, after southern Russia 
was at their mercy. The Russians did not inquire into 
the cause of this relief, but resumed their old life, con- 
fident that all danger was past. 

When the Tartars had made themselves masters of 
China, Bati, a nephew of Genghis, was dispatched west- 
ward to mark further conquests. He did not follow the 
same route but passed south of the Ural Mountains. 



66 



Thirteen years after the battle of the Kalka, Bati besieged 
and took the capital of the Bulgars, east of the grand 
dukedom of Souzdal (1237). As soon as the dukes of 
Central Russia heard this, they united against the Tartars, 
but the Grand Duke of Souzdal refused to join them. 
The Tartars sent envoys to the allied dukes. " If you 
want peace," they said, " give us the tenth of your goods." 
" When we are dead," was the proud reply, *' you can 
have the whole. A battle was fought in which the 
Russians were crushed. Nearly all the dukes died on 
the battlefield ; Riazan was stormed, sacked, and burned, 
and the other towns of that dukedom met the same fate. 
It was now the turn of Souzdal. The army of the 
grand duke was defeated on the Oka ; Moscow was 
burned and Vladimir besieged. After an heroic defense, 
the Tartars took the city by assault, and many Russians 
were burned in the cathedral which was set on fire. 
Leaving ruin in their wake, the Tartars went in search of 
the grand duke who had taken a position on the Sit, 
near the frontiers of Novgorod. Here another battle 
was fought ending in disaster for the Russians. The 
headless corpse of the grand duke was found by the 
Bishop of Rostof. On swept the Asiatic hoards, as if 
nothing would stop them. At Tor j ok, " Russian heads 
fell beneath the sword of the Tartars as grass beneath 
the scythe." Leaving Souzdal behind, they entered the 
territory of Novgorod ; but the dense forests and swollen 
rivers delayed them, and when within fifty miles of the 
city, they turned southeast. The little town of Kozelsk ^ 
did not surrender but inflicted such a loss upon the 

1 Where Kalouga now stands. 



67 

invaders that they mentioned it as " the wicked city." 
When it was captured, every man, woman, and child, 
was butchered. 

The years 1239 ^^'^ 1240 were spent in ravaging 
southern Russia. Pereiaslaf and Tchernigof, after a 
desperate defense, were burned, and the Tartars under 
command of Genghis's grandson Mangou, marched upon 
Kief. Mangou offered terms, but Kief, knowing the 
fate of other cities, executed Mangou's envoys. The 
grand duke and his rival, Daniel of Galitch, fled from 
the city, but the people fought for their lives. Mangou 
was reenforced by Bati's army and the siege began. The 
walls were knocked to pieces by battering rams. " The 
people of Kief, led by the brave Dmitri, a Gallician 
boyard, defended the battered ramparts till the end of 
the day, and then retreated to the Church of the Dime, 
which they surrounded by a palisade. The last defenders 
of Kief were grouped round the tomb of laroslaf. The 
next day they perished. Mangou gave the boyard his 
life, but the Mother of Russian Cities was sacked. This 
third pillage was the most terrible ; even the tombs were 
not respected. All that remains of the Church of the 
Dime is only a few fragments of mosaic in the museum at 
Kief. Saint Sophia and the Monastery of the Catacombs 
were delivered up to be plundered." Kief fell in 1240. 

There remained only Volhynia and Gallicia, which also 
bowed under the Tartar yoke. With the exception of 
Novgorod and the northwest, Russia was in possession 
of the Yellow race. The Russian dukes who had escaped 
carried the tale to Western Europe which was soon in a 
state of alarm. The Emperor of Germany wrote to the 



68 



other monarchs : " This is the moment to open the 
eyes of body and soul, now that the brave princes on 
whom we depended are dead or in slavery." The Pope 
called upon the Christian princes to take up arms. 
Meanwhile Bati continued his westward march and pene- 
trated as far as Moravia, when he was recalled by the 
death of the second Tartar emperor. He withdrew to 
Russia and on the Volga built a city which he named 
Sarai — the Castle, — which became the capital of a Tartar 
empire extending from the Ural river and Caspian Sea 
to the mouth of the Danube, and is known as the Golden 
Horde. 

The first three successors of Genghis Khan are known 
as the Great Khans, and ruled over all the Tartars ; but 
after Kublai Khan established himself in China, in 1260, 
the Golden Horde declared its independence. So long 
as Bati lived, this khanate was united and powerful, but 
after his death, in 1257, it gradually lost strength. In 
1272, these Tartars became Mahomedans and spread that 
faith. The Golden Horde enjoyed another period of 
prosperity under the Khan Uzbeck. 

How did the Russians bear this blow ? We have seen 
that laroslaf, the duke who had been expelled so many 
times from Novgorod, became Grand Duke of Souzdal. 
He found the country in Souzdal in ruins. Nothing was 
left of the towns and villages but charred remains ; the 
inhabitants who had survived the Tartar massacres had 
fled into the forests. laroslaf's first work was to induce 
them to return and rebuild their homes. The Tartar 
general Bati heard of this and sent word to laroslaf to 
come to him. The grand duke dared not refuse. He 



69 

went to Sarai on the Volga where Bati told him that he 
might continue as grand duke, but that it would be best 
for him to pay a visit to the great khan, who was then 
on the Amoor in the far eastern part of Asia. laroslaf 
agreed; he started on his long journey, and after many 
months of travel through deserts and wastes, he arrived 
at the headquarters of the Tartars. There he was com- 
pelled to kneel before Oktai, the successor of Genghis. 
It appears that some Russian boyards had preceded 
laroslaf hoping to secure favors from the khan, and 
that they accused the grand duke, but Oktai refused to 
listen to them. After some delay laroslaf was confirmed 
as grand duke, and permitted to return, but he died 
from exhaustion in the desert, in 1246. His remains 
were brought to Vladimir. 

laroslaf left two sons, Andrew, who succeeded him 
in Souzdal, and Alexander who was duke at Novgorod. 
This younger son was an able as well as a brave man. 
On one occasion, when the Scandinavians had invaded 
Novgorod's territory aided by the Catholic Orders, Alex- 
ander had gained a great victory on the Neva, from which 
he is known in history as Alexander Nevski (1240). 
Upon his return to Novgorod he had a dispute with the 
vetche, and he left the city. After his departure the 
territory of the Republic was invaded by the German 
Sword-bearers who erected a fort on the Neva, captured 
Pskof, Novgorod's ally, and plundered merchants within 
a short distance of the walls. The people sent to Alex- 
ander Nevski, begging him to come to their rescue, and 
after several refusals he consented. Alexander collected 
an army, drove the Germans out of Pskof and their new 
Sto. of Russia — 5 



70 

fort, and at last defeated them on the ice of Lake Peipus 
in 1242. This is known as the Battle on the Ice. Alex- 
ander then returned to Novgorod where he was received 
with honor and joy. 

Andrew, the Grand Duke of Souzdal, Alexander's 
brother, refused to recognize Bati's authority, whereupon 
a Tartar army ravaged his territory for the second time. 
Novgorod, as we have seen, had escaped the Tartar 
invasion, but when Alexander Nevski received a letter 
from Bati, in which the khan said, " God has subjected 
many peoples to me, will you alone refuse to recognize 
my power? If you wish to keep your land, come to 
me ; you will see the splendor and the glory of my govern- 
ment." The duke thought it prudent to comply. He 
and his brother Andrew went to Sarai, where honors 
w^ere showered upon the hero of the Neva. The two 
brothers were directed to visit the great khan, as their 
father laroslaf had done. They did so ; and the Mongol 
emperor confirmed Andrew as Duke of Souzdal, but to 
Alexander's dukedom, he added Kief and South Russia. 
They returned from the Far East in 1257. 



VIII— RUSSIA UNDER THE MONGOL YOKE 

THE Tartars did not interfere with the people, their 
institutions, or reHgion, but they demanded tribute 
in the form of an annual poll-tax. Officers called baskaks 
went from house to house to collect it, either in money 
or in furs, and those who could not pay were sold as 
slaves. Sometimes this collection caused disturbances. 
It was some time before the people of Novgorod would 
submit. When Bati sent his collectors to the Republic, 
the question was brought before the vetche where the 
possadnik urged the wisdom of paying the tax, but the 
people would not hear of it and promptly murdered the 
unfortunate burgomaster. Alexander, too, advised to 
avoid trouble, but the people refused and several boyards, 
including Alexander's son Vassili urged resistance. The 
duke acted vigorously. He ordered the arrest of his 
son, and had the boyards punished ; but it was not before 
the people heard of the approach of a Tartar army, that 
they submitted. Still such was their resentment that 
Alexander had the baskaks guarded night and day. At 
last Alexander threatened to leave Novgorod with his 
drujina ; then the people offered no further opposition 
to the collection of the hated poll-tax (1260). Two 
years later the people of Souzdal, Vladimir, and Rostof 

71 



^2 

rose against the baskaks and killed one of them, a Russian 
who had become a ]\Iahomedan. Alexander, who had 
succeeded his brother Andrew as Grand Duke, decided 
to attempt to appease the khan by going himself to 
Sarai with presents ; he also wished to be excused from 
furnishing a body of Russians to serve in the Tartar army. 
He succeeded, but was kept at the court of the khan 
for a year. His health broke down and he died on his 
return journey in 1263. The news of his death was 
brought to Novgorod, as mass was being said in the 
cathedral. The ^letropolitan who was reading the service, 
interrupted it, and said, " Learn, my dear children, that 
the Sun of Russia has set, — is dead," and the people cried, 
" We are lost." The death of Alexander Xevski was a 
heavy blow to Russia. 

The Russians, that is the people of Russia whose story 
we are reading, did not mingle with any Tartar except 
the tax collector whom they did not like. The victors 
were nomads, who did not care to occupy the land they 
had conquered, ^^'hen they did settle at Sarai on the 
Lower \'olga, they absorbed the tribes who had lived 
there before the invasion, and who were not Russians, 
but nomads. The Russian people did not associate with 
the conquerors. It was at this time that the word Kres- 
tianine or " true Christian " was applied to the peasant, 
instead of the contemptuous term moujik. 

Whatever Asiatic characteristics were grafted upon 
the Russians, came to them through their kniazes and 
boyards. The dukes soon showed that all they cared for, 
was to hold their positions. After Alexander Xevski, 
there is not a single instance of a desire to relieve the 



73 

people ; and the victors on their part never interfered so 
long as the tribute was paid regularly. The descendants 
of Andrew Bogolioubski were not disturbed in Souzdal ; 
those of Roman continued to hold Galitch and Volhynia, 
and Oleg's house remained in possession of Tchernigof. 
The dukes might fight about Kief ; Novgorod might 
appoint or expel its dukes, — the Tartars did not mind. 
But the khan did insist that the dukes should visit him 
and pay him homage. He also reserved the right of 
approving the succession of a duke, who was compelled 
to apply for a written consent, called an iarlikh. On one 
occasion when the people of Novgorod elected Duke 
Michael, they afterwards refused to recognize him, 
asserting that ''it is true we have chosen Michael, but 
on condition that he should show us the iarlikh." 

The dukes, holding their possessions by favor of the 
khan, tried to gain his good-will and favor. Gleb, duke 
of Bielozersk married in the khan's family about 1272; 
Feodor of Riazan was the son-in-law of the khan of the 
Nogais. In 13 18, the Grand Duke George married Kon- 
tchaka, sister of the Khan Uzbeck. It was the rulers, 
and not the people of Russia, that quietly submitted to 
the Tartartchina or Mongol yoke. 

The khans, while they did not care about the people 
took care that the dukes should show them slavish respect. 
In 1303, the dukes were convoked, and when they were 
assembled a letter from the khan was read, in which 
they were commanded to stop fighting because the great 
khan desired to see peace established. Whenever such 
a letter was brought, the dukes were directed to meet the 
envoys on foot, prostrate themselves, spread fine carpets 



74 

under their feet, present them with a cup filled with gold 
pieces, and listen, kneeling, while the letter was read. 

Children of the prairie and the desert, the Tartars had 
neither a religion nor a civilization to impose upon the 
Russian people. The khans were tolerant because they 
did not care. Ko'iyuk had a Christian chapel near his 
residence. In 1261, the Khan of Sarai gave permission 
for the erection of a Greek church in his capital, and he 
allowed a bishop to reside there. Mangou gave equal 
privileges to Christians, Jews, and Mahomedans. 

The dukes and boyards, paying court to the Tartars, 
gradually adopted their mode of dressing and, as they 
became Asiatic in appearance, they came under the in- 
fluence of Asiatic thought. They dressed in a long caftan 
or flowing robe, wore a sort of turban on the head, 
swords and daggers in their belts, and when on horseback, 
sat in very high saddles with short stirrups. Dukes and 
boyards thus became semi-Asiatic, and drifted away from 
the people among whom the national principle was kept 
alive. 

Every succeeding visit to the khan served to increase 
the intimacy of the dukes and their Asiatic masters. It 
was not many years before the relation with the great 
khan was severed, but that with the Golden Horde was 
kept alive. A writer ^ living at that time, who visited 
Sarai during Bati's life, gives the following description: 
" It (the court) is crowded and brilliant. His army 
consists of 600,000 men, 150,000 of whom are Tartars, 
and 450,000 strangers. Christians as well as infidels. On 
Good Friday we were conducted to his tent, between two 

1 Planus Corpinius. 



75 

fires, because the Tartars believe that a fire purifies 
everything, and robs even poison of its danger. We 
had to make many prostrations, and enter the tent with- 
out touching the threshold. Bati was on his throne with 
one of his wives ; his brothers, his children, and the Tartar 
lords were seated on benches ; the rest of the assembly 
were on the ground, the men on the right, the women on 
the left. . . . The khan and the lords of the court emptied 
from time to time cups of gold and silver, while the musi- 
cians made the air ring with their melodies. Bati has a 
bright complexion ; he is affable with his men, but inspires 
general terror. " The same writer visited the court of 
the great khan, and in his description dwells upon the 
fact that it was not the Tartars who were most terrible, 
but the Russian dukes and nobles who accused one 
another and who sought to destroy their own country- 
men by bribing the favorites. It was thus that Duke 
Michael of Tchernigof was murdered in 1246, and Duke 
Michael of Tver in 1319, by a Russian hireling of the 
Grand Duke of Moscow who was present when the foul 
deed was committed. Servile submission to the khans, 
a haughty demeanor towards their own people, became 
the characteristics of the dukes. " The dukes of Mos- 
cow," says a Russian author, ^ '' took the humble title of 
servants of the khan, and it was by this means that they 
became powerful monarchs." An English writer- comes 
to the following evident conclusion : " The first czars of 
Muscovy were the political descendants, not of the 
Russian dukes, but of the Tartar khans." 

A gradual change came over the Golden Horde after 

1 Karamsin. 2 Wallace. 



76 



the Tartars departed from their nomadic life and settled 
in and about Sarai. They lost their warlike habits, and 
with them much of their vigor. They began to farm out 
the poll-tax, that is. they sold the right to collect the tax 
to merchants of Khiva, whose oppression was so great 
that the people of Souzdal revolted in 1262, Koursk in 
1284, Kolomna in 13 18, and Tver in 1327. But the 
oppression was greater when the dukes of ^Moscow 
farmed this tax, not only from their own subjects, but 
also from neigfhboring: dukedoms. Thev were absolutelv 
pitiless in collecting from the poor people as much as 
they could extort, and this was the disgraceful foundation 
of their wealth and power. The poll-tax, thereafter, was 
always a favorite source of revenue in Russia. 

Besides this tribute, the dukes were compelled to 
furnish soldiers to their masters. Soon after the conquest, 
we read of Russian dukes marching with the Tartars at 
the head of their drujinas, and of supplying them wdth 
infantry. In 1276 Boris of Rostof and others, followed 
]\Iangou Khan in the war against the tribes of the Cau- 
casus, and helped to sack the town of Dediakof in 
Daghestan. This was excusable, because the enemy was 
an alien ; but what can be thought of Prince Andrew, 
the unworthy son of Alexander Nevski, who, in 1281, 
induced the Tartars to aid him in pillaging Vladimir, 
Souzdal, Mourom, ^Moscow, and Pereiaslaf, and led in 
profaning churches and convents? In 1284, when two 
descendants of Oleg were dukes of Koursk, one of them 
put his brother to death for having insulted the khan, and 
Russian historians blame not the murderer, but the 
victim, because he had aroused the khan's anger ! In 



71 

1327, the dukes of Moscow and Souzdal marched against 
Tver at the command of their Asiatic master. Such was 
the influence of the Tartar yoke. 

The Russian dukes and their nobles lost not only the 
principle of patriotism, but also that of personal honor. 
The unfortunate Russians henceforth were to them, not 
fellow-countrymen but " tcherne " '' black people." The 
khans, with true political instinct looking to the perpetua- 
tion of this condition, gained the friendship of the Church, 
as they had that of the dukes. In 13 13, the Khan Uzbeck, 
at the request of the Metropolitan or head of the Church 
of Moscow, ordered that the Church should retain its 
privileges, and that it should not be deprived of its 
property, because, he says, '' these possessions are sacred, 
as they belong to men whose prayers preserve our lives 
and strengthen our armies." The churches and convents 
grew enormously rich. They received gifts of land, and 
the priests, so bribed, allied themselves with the heathen 
masters, and aided further in oppressing the people. 

The descendants of the dukes and drujinas lost the 
large and generous impulses of the old Norsemen, to 
make way for the Asiatic deformities of treachery, cruelty, 
cunning, and disregard of honor. Whatever came in 
the way of their own interests, was trampled under foot 
by fair means or foul. The boyards, too, were tainted 
by the example of the chiefs. The vast extent of the 
country, the sparsity of the population, the difficulties 
in the way of communication, and above all the general 
ignorance, prevented the appearance of a patriot who 
might have raised a truly national banner, and shaken 
off the yoke of the servile lackeys of the Tartars. 




o 
o 
w 
o 



IX— LITHUANIA AND MOSCOW 

WE have seen that the Tartar invasion stopped short 
of Novgorod, and turned southeast, thus leaving 
northwest Russia free. What are now known as the 
Baltic Provinces, was at that time covered with dense 
forests, inhabited by the Finns or Suomi, the Tchouds, 
Jmouds, and Lithuanians, all of the same race and speak- 
ing the same language, but constantly at war with one 
another. In the 13th century a chief named Alindvog, 
after killing his brothers and sons, united the tribes, and 
made himself master of Lithuania. He then invaded 
Russia whose dukes, suffering under the Tartar yoke, 
were unable to withstand him. He captured Grodno and 
Novogredek, when he was confronted by Alexander 
Nevsky and Daniel of Volhynia in front, and by the 
Knights of Livonia in his rear. In this extremity Mind- 
vog sent to the Pope promising that he would be con- 
verted in return for his good services. Pope Innocent 
IV replied by sending a papal legate to Grodno, where 
Mindvog and his wife were baptized, and he was made 
King of Lithuania (1252). Soon after he had a dispute 
with the Livonian Knights to whom he was forced to 
cede the country of the Jmouds. He again became a 
pagan and, marching against the Knights, defeated them. 

79 



8o 



Upon his return from this expedition, he was murdered 
by a chief named Dovmont whom he had injured. 
Lithuania again fell into anarchy until another enterpris- 
ing chief named Gedimin restored order in 131 5. 

Gedimin invaded Russia, defeated a Russo-Tartar 
army in 1321, and took Tchernigof and Vladimir. He 
then went south, where the Russian cities readily opened 
their gates to him, hoping for relief from the Mongol 
yoke. He took the old capital Kief, and there had his 
sons baptized in the Greek church and tried to marry 
them into the families of Russian dukes. He established 
his capital at \Mlna where he attracted many German 
artists and mechanics by granting them special privileges. 
He died a pagan, in 1340, dividing his country among 
his sons and his brother. 

One of his sons, Olgerd, succeeded in getting possession 
of the whole, and then started upon a career of conquest. 
He first attacked Novgorod, where one of his brothers 
had taken refuge, and made conquests east and south, 
imtil he reached the Black Sea. Although he was a 
pagan, Simeon the Proud, Grand Duke of AIoscow, gave 
him his daughter : but this did not prevent Olgerd from 
waging war with Simeon's successors. In 1368, he de- 
feated the Tartars of the Lower Dneiper, and destroyed 
Cherson in the Crimea. 

When he died he followed Gedimin's example by divid- 
ing his territories among his sons, but one of them, 
Jagellon, became sole ruler by putting his brothers to 
flight and his uncle to death. At tliis time the Russian 
language was adopted and with it the Greek Church, 
although Jagellon was still a pagan. \\'hen he married 



8i 

Hedwiga, the heiress to the Kingdom of Poland, he 
embraced the Roman Catholic church; in 1386, he went 
to Cracow, where he was crowned King of Poland, and 
soon after gave orders that his people must join the same 
church, converting them as Vladimir had intro- 
duced Christianity among the people of Kief. Jagellon 
made Cracow his capital. Some time afterwards one of 
his cousins, Vitovt, raised a revolt against him in Lithu- 
ania, and Jagellon was compelled to cede that territory to 
him. Thus Vitovt became Grand Duke of Lithuania. 

Vitovt married the sister of Vassili, Grand Duke of 
Moscow, and extended his domain toward the east. He 
invaded Smolensk, whose Grand Duke Sviatoslaf, when 
fighting in Russia, had taken a delight in impaling and 
burning alive Russian women and children. That savage 
had been killed in 1387, in a battle with the Lithuanians, 
and his son had succeeded him. Vitovt, before Smolensk, 
invited this prince and his brothers to visit him in his 
tent. They accepted and were warmly received, but 
when they were ready to depart, they were told that they 
were prisoners of war. Smolensk was taken by surprise, 
and pillaged. 

Vitovt contemplated the conquest of Russia. His terri- 
tory bordered in the east on Souzdal and Riazan. He 
had defeated an army of Tartars in the south, and was 
making preparations for a bold stroke. Collecting an 
army of Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, and five hundred 
Knights of the Teutonic Order, he set out from Kief and 
came upon the Tartar army near Pultowa where, in 1399, 
he suffered a serious defeat. He recovered from this 
blow, and after some time began a war with the Teutonic 



82 



Order which he defeated in 1410, at the battle of the 
Tanncnberg. He thereupon re-annexed the Jmoud 
country. 

Vitovt had given up his designs upon Russia; he 
planned to raise Lithuania into a kingdom, and to have 
a Metropolitan of its own, instead of being dependent 
upon the head of the Greek Church at Moscow. He 
succeeded in the last-named object, but met with a check 
in the former, and, as he was eighty years old, the dis- 
appointment caused an ilhicss from which he died, in 
1430. After his death, Lithuania had no more influence 
upon Russia. Sometimes it had a grand duke of its 
own, at other times it was united with Poland. In 1501, 
it became the property of the King of Poland, who added 
to his title that of Grand Duke of Lithuania. Its nobles 
spoke the Polish language. 

It was necessary to sketch in a few words the history 
of Lithuania, not only because it is part of Russia to-day, 
but because it has always been claimed by Russia. The 
history of that country, however, from the beginning 
of the 14th century, is centered about Muscovia, the terri- 
tory of the Grand Duke of Moscow. At the time of the 
Lithuanian conquest, Muscovia was bounded on the north 
by Tver, on the east by Souzdal, on the south by Riazan, 
and on the west by Lithuania. It belonged to Alexander 
Nevski, who at his death left it to his son Daniel. Its 
area was increased by him by the towns of Pereiaslaf, 
Zabiesski and Kolomma. Daniel died in 1303, and was 
buried in the church of St. Michael the Archangel, which 
remained the burial place of the Muscovite princes until 
the time of Peter the Great. 



83 

The next grand duke was Daniel's son George, whose 
first act was to capture the Duke of Smolensk from whom 
he took the town of Mojaisk. In 1304 the Grand Duke 
of Souzdal died. Michael of Tver claimed the succession 
as the eldest of the family, but George of Moscow con- 
tested it. Michael was supported by the boyards of 
Vladimir and the people of Novgorod ; the khan at Sarai 
also declared in his favor, and Michael was installed. 
George, however, was not satisfied and began a war ; 
he was defeated in battle, and twice besieged in Moscow. 
Suddenly he heard that the khan was dead ; he hastened 
to Sarai", and there made friends with the new Khan 
Uzbeck, who gave him his sister Kontchaka in marriage, 
and ordered that George should have possession of Souz- 
dal. He returned to Moscow with a Tartar army and 
Michael, considering the odds, proposed to cede Vladimir 
on condition that his own patrimony of Tver should re- 
main intact. George refused, and the war broke out 
anew. Michael defeated him and captured Kontchaka 
and the Tartar general, but he released his prisoners, and 
the dispute was again brought before the khan. George 
took good care to be at Sarai, and having ample means 
at his disposal from his poll-tax collecting, distributed 
bribes right and left. Michael, confident in the justice 
of his cause, committed the mistake of sending his twelve- 
year-old son in charge of high boyards, to represent 
him ; but when he was informed of George's methods, he, 
too, proceeded to Sarai, after making his will. Upon 
his arrival, he was accused of having drawn his sword 
upon the Khan's envoy, and of having poisoned Kon- 
tchaka. Uzbeck would not even listen to such absurd 



84 

complaints, but George invented other falsehoods, and at 
last Michael was arrested. The khan went on a hunting 
trip in the Caucasus, and the wretched Duke of Tver 
was dragged after him in chains. One day he was put 
in the pillory in the market of a populous town, where 
the people crowded around him to look at the man who, 
a short time before, was a powerful prince in his own 
country. Michael's boyards urged him to escape, but 
he dreaded the khan's vengeance upon his family and 
people. George increased his bribes, and thus secured 
the order that Michael should be put to death. 

One of Michael's pages came to the tent occupied by 
him, and told him that George and a Tartar general were 
approaching. " I know what their object is," said the 
unfortunate duke. He at once sent his young son to 
one of the khan's wives, who had promised to protect 
the child. The two men came to the tent and ordered 
the Tver boyards to leave. Hired assassins were called 
in, and a Russian ruffian named Romanetz stabbed the 
unfortunate duke. When George and the Tartar entered, 
they saw the nude corpse; it had been despoiled. The 
Tartar was shocked. " What ! " he cried, "Will you allow 
the body of your uncle to be outraged ! " George only 
smiled; but one of his attendants threw a cloak over the 
murdered man. 

When Michael's children grew up, one of his sons, 
Dmitri of the Terrible Eyes, secured some friends at 
the khan's court. He obtained the title of grand duke, 
and a baskak received orders to install him. When 
George heard this, he hurried to Sarai ; there the two 
men met, and Dmitri, drawing his sword, killed his 



85 

father's murderer (1325). Dmitri was arrested and put 
to death by order of the khan, but his brother Alexander 
was permitted to succeed him at Tver. 

This duke was in sympathy with the people. Suffer- 
ing under the oppression of the Tartar tax collectors, the 
people revolted under the leadership of Alexander. The 
palace of the baskak was attacked, and he and his attend- 
ants were killed. Uzbeck, incited by Ivan Kalita, 
George's brother and successor at Moscow, prepared to 
take revenge, when Ivan volunteered to punish Tver, 
as well as Riazan and Novgorod which had given evidence 
of sympathy. The offer was accepted, and Ivan at the 
head of a Muscovite army reenforced by 50,000 Tartars 
marched upon the doomed city. Alexander and his 
brothers fled. Tver and two other cities were sacked, the 
Duke of Riazan was put to death, and Novgorod had to 
pay a heavy fine. Ivan thought that his services would 
procure him Tver and Riazan, but Uzbeck did not intend 
to extend the power of the treacherous family, and Con- 
stantine, another son of Michael, w^as made Duke of 
Tver. He and Ivan went to Sarai, \yhere the latter was 
ordered to bring Alexander before the khan. The 
prince had found an asylum in Pskof, where Ivan's 
messengers appeared to demand his surrender. The 
envoys urged him to give himself up under the plea 
" not to expose a Christian people to the wrath of the 
infidels." The people of Pskof thought otherwise. " Do 
not go to the Horde, my lord," said they ; " whatever hap- 
pens, we will die with you." Alexander refused to obey 
the summons, and the people of Pskof began to construct 
a new fort. Ivan Kalita, the Grand Duke of Moscow, per- 
Sto. of Russia — 6 



86 



suaded the Aletropolitan to place x\lexander and Pskof 
under the ban of the Church, which was done. We see 
here a Christian prince persecuting a relative, and a 
Christian priest excommunicating a Christian people, — 
all to please an infidel conqueror ! Still the people of 
Pskof refused to yield, but Alexander left the city and 
took refuge in Lithuania. Then Pskof informed Ivan of 
his departure, saying, '' Alexander is gone ; all Pskof 
swears it, from the smallest to the greatest, popes,^ 
monks, nuns, orphans, women, and children." (1329.) 

Some years afterwards an attempt was made by Alex- 
ander to recover Tver. He went to Sarai with some of 
his boyards. There he made submission. " Lord, all- 
pow^erful Czar," he said, " if I have done anything 
against you, I have come hither to receive of you life 
or death. Do as God inspires you ; I am ready for 
either." Uzbeck pardoned him and Alexander returned 
to Tver. This did not please Ivan Kalita, who knew that 
he was hated everywhere, and that his enemies only need- 
ed a leader. He went to Sarai where he told L'zbeck that 
Alexander was a very dangerous enemy to the Tartars. 
Alexander was summoned to appear and when he com- 
plied, he was arrested, condemned to death, and beheaded. 

1 Priests. 



X— DECLINE OF THE TARTAR POWER. 
DMITRI DONSKOI 

CRAFTY and unscrupulous, the grand dukes of 
Moscow were feared by their neighbors. Ivan 
Kalita, as farmer of the poll-tax, grew immensely 
wealthy. He collected a double tax from Novgorod, 
which the republic, although allied with Lithuania, dared 
not refuse. He bought several towns, besides land in the 
neighborhood of Vladimir, Rostof, and Kostroma. His 
title was still Grand Duke of Vladimir, but Moscow was 
the real capital. Ivan took very good care to stand 
well with the Church. He built convents and churches, 
and never went out without an alms-bag or kalifa to give 
money to the poor ; hence his surname. The seat of the 
Metropolitan was still at Vladimir, but he often came to 
Moscow, and finally moved there ; so that it became also 
the capital of the Church. It is reported that the Metro- 
politan said to Ivan, " God will bless you and raise you 
above all other dukes, and this city above all other cities. 
Your house will reign in this place during many cen- 
turies ; their hands will conquer all their enemies ; the 
saints will make their dwelling here, and here my bones 
shall rest." 

When Ivan with the Alms-bag died in 1341, he left the 

87 



88 



bulk of his possessions to his eldest son Simeon, and gave 
only small estates to his other children ; he also forbade 
that Moscow's territory should be divided. His body 
was scarcely in the grave before the dukes of Tver and 
Souzdal were on the way to Sara'i to claim the grand 
dukedom of Vladimir ; they were supported by other 
dukes who disliked and dreaded the Muscovite family. 
Simeon hurried after them, well provided with some of 
his father's treasure. He used it so well, that he received 
the iarlikh, and was installed at \''ladimir. Servile 
toward the khan, he was overbearing toward the other 
Russian dukes, which procured for him the surname of 
the Proud. He was the first to assume the title of Grand 
Duke of all the Russias ; and, acting in that capacity, he 
graciously confirmed the charter of Novgorod, for which 
he demanded and obtained payment. Simeon died in 
1353 of the '' black death," a pestilence which was 
imported from Asia. 

Great changes were taking place at Sarai, in the Khan 
of the Golden Horde. Its power was broken by internal 
discord, when Mourout, the legal heir of Bati, was 
attacked by a rival Mamai, who succeeded in establishing 
himself at Sarai. Simeon was succeeded by his brother, 
Ivan II, an easy-going, good-natured man whose reign 
of six years did not increase the influence of ^Moscow. 
At his death, in 1359, he left several minor children, the 
oldest of whom was Dmitri, a boy of twelve. Dmitri of 
Souzdal went to Sarai — and secured the iarlikh, which 
made him Grand Duke of Madimir, but Alexis, the 
Metropolitan, was loyal to Ivan's children, and appealed 
to the khan in the name of his young ward. Mourout, 




(89) 



Dmitri Donskoi 



90 

the heir of Bati, declared in his favor, and young Dmitri 
was taken to Vladimir escorted by an army, and installed. 

(1363-) 

The appointment was disputed by the dukes of Tver, 
Souzdal. and Riazan. Dmitri of Souzdal held an iarlikh 
from Mourout's opponent, and tried to enter in Vladimir, 
but was expelled. The Metropolitan excommunicated 
the opponents of Ivan's son, who held the fort as Grand 
Duke. Young- Dmitri made war upon the Duke of Tver, 
and after a seven years' struggle (i 368-1 375), compelled 
him to renounce his claims. 

Dmitri was summoned before the Khan, in 1371. He 
went but what he saw at Sarai convinced him that the 
Tartars were no longer able to uphold their authority. 
He did not hesitate to engage in a struggle with Riazan, 
although it was supported by a Tartar army. Thereafter, 
when orders arrived from the khan, Dmitri ignored 
them. In 1376, he sent a large army to Kazan on the 
Volga, and forced two Mongol chiefs to pay tribute. 
Two years later, in 1378, a battle was fought between 
Dmitri and one of Mamai's generals in Riazan, when the 
Tartars were defeated, which made the grand duke 
exclaim : " Their time is come, and God is with us ! " 
The khan sent an army to ravage Riazan, and made 
preparations to reestablish his authority at Moscow. 

To make sure of success, Mamai took two years to 
collect an immense army and to mature his plans. This 
could not remain secret to the Russians, who, aroused by 
Dmitri, laid aside their private feuds to make common 
cause against the infidels. A large number of dukes 
assembled at Moscow, and even the Lithuanians prom- 



91 

ised to send troops to Kostroma where the Russian army 
was gathering. The Metropolitan assured Dmitri of the 
victory, and sent two monks to go with the troops. Mak- 
ing the sign of the Cross on their cowls, he said, " Behold 
a weapon which faileth never ! " 

Russia was united against the Mongol; all the dukes, 
with the exception of those of Tver and Riazan, lent their 
aid. These two dreaded Moscow's power, and the Duke 
of Riazan tried to conclude an alliance with Jagellon of 
Lithuania and Mamai. 

Dmitri, at the head of an army estimated at 150,000 
men, marched through Riazan to the Don where the 
Tartars were drawn up, awaiting the reenforcements of 
their ally Jagellon, who was still fifteen leagues distant. 
Dmitri resolved to fight the Tartars before a junction 
could be effected. He crossed the Don and met the 
enemy on the plain of Koulikovo, — the Field of the 
Woodcocks, — where a furious battle was fought. It 
was decided by a sudden attack upon the Tartars from 
an ambush, which threw them into a panic. The Tartars 
were routed ; Mamai's camp, his chariots and camels, 
were all captured. Dmitri was found in a swoon from 
loss of blood. He was surnamed Donskoi, in honor of 
this victory. (1380.) 

It seemed as if the end of the Mongol yoke had come, 
when another great leader appeared among them. Tam- 
erlane, after conquering Bokhara, Hindostan, Iran, and 
Asia Minor, entered Europe, and ordered Mamai to be 
put to death. He summoned Dmitri Donskoi to appear 
before him, and received a curt refusal. Tamerlane sent 
one of his generals with an immense army to Moscow, and 



92 

Dmitri, not finding the former support, went to Kostroma 
to collect troops. The Tartars appeared before Moscow, 
which they tried to carry by assault but failed. They 
pretended to enter into negotiations, when they sur- 
prised the gates and Moscow was delivered up to fire and 
sword. It is said that 24,000 inhabitants were slaugh- 
tered. Vladimir and other towns suffered the same fate. 

It is told that Dmitri wept when he saw the charred 
remains of his capital after the Tartars had withdrawn. 
There was nothing for it but to make peace with the 
khan, and once more the Tartar tax gatherers went their 
rounds. But Dmitri's heart was sore against the Dukes 
of Tver and Riazan who had abetted Mama'i, and Nov- 
gorod^ which had used the opportunity of Moscow's dis- 
tress to plunder some of its towns. After the country 
had sufficiently recovered, he compelled the Duke of 
Riazan to conclude '' a perpetual peace," and Novgorod 
paid an indemnity besides agreeing to an annual tribute. 

When Dmitri died in 1389, he left Moscow the most 
powerful of Russian dukedoms. He was succeeded by 
his eldest son Vassili, with the consent of his cousin 
Vladimir, who was the eldest of the family. Vassili men- 
tioned Novgorod as " his patrimony," and acted as if the 
republic was his private property. He visited Sarai in 
1392, and while there bought an iarlikh, which placed 
him in possession of Souzdal, Nishni Novgorod, and 
Mourom. In 1393, the people of Novgorod revolted, but 
Vassili 's army convinced them that the republic was fast 
losing its former power. 

At this time Tamerlane, dissatisfied with his generals, 
arrived in Europe and after pillaging the Golden Horde, 



93 

moved westward, spreading ruin and desolation. He 
drew near to Moscow, where the famous eikon of the 
Virgin was taken in solemn procession, when the Tartar 
army stopped and turned to the south, where Azof, 
Astrakhan, and Sarai, were plundered and destroyed. 
(13950 After Tamerlane's withdrawal, Vassili pre- 
tended not to know to whom to pay the tribute, — ^and so 
paid none at all. The Tartars under Ediger marched 
upon Moscow to collect it, but the city was bravely 
defended and Ediger, fearing an invasion from Asia, 
agreed to accept a ransom of 3000 rubles, which was 
paid by the boyards. 

More dangerous were the attacks of Vitovt of Lith- 
uania, Vassili's father-in-law, who marched three times 
against Moscow. Both Vitovt and Vassili were indis- 
posed to risk a decisive battle, fearing that, if defeated, 
their enemies would despoil them. In 1408 a treaty was 
signed whereby the Ouger was made the frontier between 
them. This gave Smolensk to Lithuania, and Kozelsk to 
Moscow. 

Vassili extended his territory, and with it his name ; 
one of his daughters married the Byzantine Emperor, 
John Palaeologus. At his death, in 1425, he left his 
territory to his son V^assili, the Blind, whose title was 
contested by his uncle George, on the ground of being 
the eldest of the family. The dispute was submitted to 
the khan, in 1431. Both sides humbled themselves, but 
the argument of Vassili's boyards prevailed. " ]\Iy Lord 
Czar," they said to the khan, '' let us speak, — us, the 
slaves of the grand duke. Our master, the grand duke, 
prays for the throne of the grand dukedom, which is your 



94 

property, having no other title but your protection, your 
investiture, and your iarhkh. You are master and can dis- 
pose of it according to your good pleasure. My Lord, the 
Duke George, his uncle, claims the grand dukedom by 
the act and will of his father, but not as a favor from the 
all-powerful." Vassili the Blind was the first grand 
duke to be crowned at Moscow instead of at Vladimir. 

His reign was disturbed by constant wars with his 
uncle, and afterwards with his cousins. In 1446 he was 
taken prisoner by one of the latter, who ordered his eyes 
to be put out. In 1450, peace was restored when the 
second son of George died of poison. Notwithstanding 
the loss of his sight Vassili displayed considerable energy 
in reestablishing his authority. Novgorod was forced to 
pay another indemnity, and to give a written promise 
that in future all deeds would be void unless stamped 
with the seal of the grand duke. 

The most remarkable incident of Vassili's reign was 
the Council at Florence, Italy, in 1449, where delegates 
of the Roman and Greek Churches tried to effect a union. 
There were seventeen Metropolitans, among them Isi- 
dore of Moscow, who signed the Act of Union. When 
Isodore returned and declared what he had done, a great 
opposition appeared. Vassili himself insulted the Metro- 
politan, who fled to Rome. In 1453, Mahomet II cap- 
tured Constantinople when a host of priests, monks, 
artists, and learned men fled from the extinct Byzantine 
Empire, to find an asylum in Russia. 

While nothing resulted from the Council of Florence, 
owing to the opposition of members of the Greek Church, 
the fall of Constantinople left a deep impression upon 



95 

Russia, which chose to consider itself as the heir to the 
Byzantine Empire. More than this, the influence of the 
men who found a refuge in Russia, served to inoculate 
the country of their adoption with the semi-oriental 
civilization which had distinguished Constantinople from 
Western Europe. The time, too, was propitious. Russia 
was gradually recovering from the blow of Tartar rule, 
which had marred its progress during two centuries. 
Here was, therefore, to all intent and purposes, a virgin 
soil, which promised to yield a rich harvest to whatever 
principles were planted in it. It might even regenerate 
the decaying elements of the Byzantine civilization. 




(96) 



Ivan III 



XI— IVAN III, THE GREAT 

VASSILI'S eldest son Ivan was born in 1440. It 
is said that upon the occasion of his birth, an old 
monk at Novgorod had a vision which he reported to the 
Archbishop. " Truly," he said, " it is to-day that the 
grand duke triumphs ; God has given him an heir ; I 
behold this child making himself illustrious by glorious 
deeds. He will subdue princes and nations. But woe 
to Novgorod ! Novgorod will fall at his feet, and never 
rise again." 

Vassili, wishing to avoid the disputes incident upon the 
succession, during his lifetime admitted Ivan as co- 
regent. Upon his father's death, in 1462, Ivan was 
twenty-two years old. He succeeded without the usual 
disturbances, and the first six years of his reign were 
uneventful. In 1468, he gained forcible possession of his 
brother George's estate, and allowed him to die in prison. 
When he heard of his death, — he wept. Another brother, 
Andrew, was in his way, and was flung into prison, where- 
upon Ivan called the Metropolitan and bishops to his 
palace, wept some more, and confessed that he had been 
too severe ; — but he forgot to restore Andrew's property. 
When his third brother, Boris, died, Ivan seized the estate 
and kept it ; but he wept some more. 

97 



98 

This soft-hearted but tenacious gentleman found fault 
with his neighbor, Michael of Tver, for entering into an 
alliance with Lithuania. To settle the difficulty, he in- 
vaded the dukedom, and annexed it to Moscow. Then, 
having his hands free, he thought 'of Novgorod. The 
Germans of the Hanseatic League had formed a colony 
in the old republic, which had grown very wealthy. Ivan 
looked upon that wealth as his ; if it was not, it ought to 
be. Acting upon this satisfactory conclusion, he remem- 
bered that the people of Novgorod had omitted to do 
him homage when he succeeded his father. They had 
even failed to appreciate the gentle letter of remonstrance 
in which he reminded them of their oversight. Good- 
natured as he knew himself to be, he could not afford to 
encourage such a rebellious spirit ; but, being a careful 
man, he concluded that it would be more humane as well 
as cheaper to try the gentle means of bribery. His gold, 
distributed where it would do most good, procured him a 
large party. The opposition was led by a woman named 
Marfa, the wealthy widow of a possadnik. She urged 
that the republic should ask the help of Casimir IV, King 
of Poland, but Ivan's friends in the vetche replied that, if 
Poland should win, the Roman Catholic Church would 
enter, whereas Russia was at least loyal to the Greek 
Church. 

Marfa's influence prevailed; the republic submitted to 
Poland, on condition that its charter should be respected. 
Gentle Ivan despatched some Envoys to warn the people 
of the error of their ways, and when that did no good, 
he hired Tartar cavalry, overran the territory of the re- 
public, and directed his troops to cut off the noses and 



99 

lips of the prisoners. It is probable that he wept, although 
history omits mentioning the fact. Novgorod was unpre- 
pared; a mob was collected and styled an army, and in 
the battle of the Chelona, 3,000 trained troops put to 
flight 30,000 citizen soldiers. Novgorod was lost. Ivan 
kindly permitted the name " republic " to continue, but 
his authority was admitted. He also received a share of 
the wealth as an indemnity. (1470.) 

Two years later he married the niece and supposed 
heiress of the last Byzantine emperor. Her father, 
Thomas Palaeologus, had fled to Rome where he died 
leaving one daughter Sophia. Pope Paul II wished to 
find her a husband, and Cardinal Bessarion of the Greek 
Church advised him to offer her hand to Ivan. The offer 
was accepted ; Sophia received a dower from the Pope 
who still hoped to unite the two churches, and the bride 
w^as received with great honor in Ivan's territory. The 
grand duke probably had his eye on Constantinople, but 
deferred his claim to some favorable opportunity. With 
Sophia came many Greek nobles, artists, and learned 
men. Ivan, as may be judged from his gentle nature, 
was a patron of art, and had no prejudice against for- 
eigners. Several Italians came to AIoscow where their 
services were appreciated. 

Ivan left Novgorod in peace during five years, when 
he thought it time to familiarize the citizens with the 
fact that their republic was a thing of the past. He needed 
a pretext; by a judicious use of money, his agents raised 
a mob against the boyards, who, being assaulted, invoked 
the strong arm of the law, in the person of Ivan. The 
grand duke came to Novgorod in 1475, to hold court. 

cOfC 



lOO 



He at once ordered the arrest of the possadnik, Marfa's 
son, and a number of boyards who believed in a repubHc, 
had them put in chains and carried to Moscow. This 
was in violation of the charter, but Ivan had an elastic 
conscience. Next he tempted a scribe to mention him as 
Sovereign instead of " lord," in an official document; and 
when, in a last effort to save the republic, Marfa's 
partisans killed a number of Ivan's friends, it was evi- 
dently his duty to restore order. 

Upon his return to Moscow, he announced that Nov- 
gorod was the enemy of the Greek Church, and the ally 
of the Pope and of Lithuania. This so alarmed the 
Metropolitan and the priests that they begged Ivan to 
make w^ar upon the wicked city. Many dukes and 
boyards, moved by lo}'alty for the church, and perhaps 
scenting spoils, flocked to his camp. Marfa's partisans 
in vain tried to arouse the citizens by the cry, " Let us 
die for liberty and St. Sophia ! " It fell on deaf ears ; every 
one . for himself, was the general thought. Novgorod 
surrendered. Ivan guaranteed, — for just so long as it 
should suit him, — the people's lives and property, their 
ancient code of laws, and exemption from Muscovite 
service ; but the vetche and office of possadnik were 
abolished, and with them died the republic. (1478.) 

Having settled with Novgorod to his satisfaction, Ivan 
bethought himself of establishing peace in his own house- 
hold. Russian writers state that his wife, Sophia, 
annoyed him by often repeating the interesting inquiry, 
" How long am I to be the slave of the Tartars ? " The 
Khan of the Golden Horde had been dissolved since 
Tamerlane's raid ; several states had been formed from it, 



lOI 



of which the principal were Kazan, Sarai or Astrakhan, 
and the Crimea. Kazan was ruled by a czar ; its people 
were the descendants of Mongols and Bulgars who had 
made great progress in commerce. The Khan of Sarai 
and his men clung to the life of nomads ; but the subjects 
of the Khan of the Crimea, were Mongols, Armenians, 
Greeks, Jews, and Italians ; and all three had this in 
common that they were constantly indulging in quarrels 
and strife at home. 

Ivan knew all this, because sometimes a chief would 
come to Moscow for an asylum, and others took service 
in his army. He no longer sent tribute, although occa- 
sionally, when he was occupied elsewhere, he did send a 
small present. In 1478 Khan Akhmet sent ambassadors 
to Moscow to remind him that the tribute was in arrears. 
Ivan, who had apparently a wonderful command over 
his features, pretended to lose his temper, jumped on the 
picture of the khan, and ordered all the envoys except 
one to be put to death. The survivor was told to go home, 
and tell his master of his reception. 

Ivan had reasonable cause for thinking that Akhmet 
would be displeased, and collected an army of 150,000 
men on the Oka, where he took up a strong position. 
He had been right in his conjecture, for Akhmet gathered 
an army and in due time arrived on the opposite bank 
of the river. Ivan had time to reflect. He did not much 
fancy risking a decisive battle, and returned to Moscow to 
consult his mother, the boyards, and the priests. xA.ll 
urged him to fight, and finally he came back to the camp, 
convinced that scheming and plotting were more in his 
line. All this time the two armies lay within earshot, 
Sto. of Russia — 7 



102 



exchanging complimentary remarks, with no casualties. 
The khan offered to pardon Ivan on condition that he 
should come and hold his stirrup ; or, if he were too 
tired, if he should send some high officer to do it in his 
name. Ivan shook his head. IMean while the priests at 
Moscow were growing impatient, and the Archbishop 
Vassian sent him a warm letter. It happened that Akhmet 
was quite as prudent as Ivan ; but when the winter came 
and the Oka, instead of a barrier, became an easy crossing, 
Ivan ordered the retreat. Just then the two armies, led 
by such brave commanders, were seized with a panic, and 
away they fled in opposite directions. (1480.) The 
honors were with Ivan, because he did not have so far 
to run as Akhmet, w^ho did not stop until he reached 
Sara'i. It is not stated why Ivan received no surname 
from this great battle. 

The following year, 1481, Ivan had sufficiently re- 
covered to show the courage he possessed. There was a 
disturbance in Novgorod, where the people did not ap- 
preciate the nobility of his character. He ordered some 
of the boyards to be tortured and put to death, and eight 
thousand citizens were forcibly packed off to Souzdal. 

In fear of his doughty enemy Akhmet, Ivan made 
friends with the Khan of the Crimea, calculating that if 
the former should attack him again, he would have to 
look out for his rear. Akhmet, however, seemed to have 
had enough of it, and Ivan, who was on bad terms with 
Lithuania and Poland, suggested to his friend that a 
raid into those territories might pay. The Khan of the 
Crimea took the hint ; he penetrated as far as Kief which 
he captured and pillaged. ( 1482.) The famous monastery 



I03 

of the Catacombs was almost destroyed ; but Ivan had the 
satisfaction of knowing that his two enemies had other 
things to think of, instead of annoying him. 

In 1487 war broke out with Kazan. A Russian army 
marched against it, but Ivan did not take command. As 
a result, the city was taken and the khan, who had 
assumed the title of czar, was brought a prisoner to Mos- 
cow. Fearing that he would unite the other Tartars 
against him if he annexed the territory at once, he 
appointed a nephew of his friend, the Khan of the Crimea, 
but placed Russian soldiers in the fortress, while he 
added the title of Prince of Bulgaria to his own. Other 
Tartar princes sent envoys to protest against the arrest. 
Ivan did not receive them in person, and refused to 
release the prisoner, but he ordered the envoys to be 
treated with great honor and gave them so many presents, 
that they returned in great good humor. 

In 1492, the King of Poland died, leaving that king- 
dom to his eldest son Albert, and Lithuania to his second 
son Alexander. Ivan was justly indignant that he had 
not been remembered in the will. He sent envoys to 
Bajazet II, Sultan of Turkey, to the Kings of Hungary 
and Moldavia, and to his old friend the Khan of the 
Crimea, to secure their assistance or at least their kind 
neutrality. Of the services of the Khan of the Crimea he 
felt assured. 

He began by discovering a Polish plot against his life 
at Moscow, and appealed to the religious prejudices of 
the Lithuanian nobles belonging to the Greek Church, 
omitting to mention his little arrangement with the in- 
fidel sultan. When Alexander sent envoys to negotiate 



104 

terms of peace, Ivan's deputies said to them : *' Lithuania 
has profited by the misfortunes of Russia to take our terri- 
tory, but to-day things are changed." They were right. 
When peace was concluded in 1494, Ivan's frontier in the 
west was extended. 

The marriage of Alexander to Ivan's daughter seemed 
to end the hostility between the two countries, but noth- 
ing was further from the schemes of the wily grand' 
duke. He stipulated that she should have a Greek chapel 
in the palace, and warned her never to appear in a 
Catholic church, and always to wear the Russian national 
dress. Soon after the wedding Ivan complained that his 
daughter was forced to wear Polish costumes, and that 
the Greek Church was being persecuted. These were to 
him ample cause for war, the more so since he had good 
reason to count upon his friends, the priests and boyards 
of the Greek Church. When the war broke out, cities 
where the majority of the people belonged to that church, 
opened their gates to his army, and Alexander was badly 
defeated in the battle of Vedrocha. This war added 
another slice to Ivan's territory. 

Alexander in his distress made an alliance with the 
Livonian Order and with the Great Horde at Sarai ; but 
Ivan's old friend, the Khan of the Crimea, made a raid 
in Gallicia and \'olhynia, and the Lithuanians were 
defeated at Mstislaf ; but they compelled the Russians to 
raise the siege of Smolensk. Meanwhile Ivan had serious 
trouble. In 1495, he ordered the merchants of several 
Hanseatic towns to be arrested at Novgorod, and in- 
cidentally had goods to the value of $200,000, — an 
immense sum in those days, — carried to Moscow. This 



i<^5 

caused the foreign merchants to leave for safer places ; 
but the Livonian Order invaded his territory, and in the 
battle of Siritza, they crushed a Russian army of 50,000 
men, but the following year, 1502, they were defeated at 
Pskof. 

Toward the end of his life he was in doubt about his 
successor, because his eldest son was dead. At first 
he thought of making his grandson Dmitri, his heir ; but 
he changed his mind, sent his daughter-in-law and grand- 
son to prison and proclaimed his second son Vassili his 
heir. He died in 1505, after a reign of forty-three years. 
It was under his direction that a new code of laws, the 
Oulogenia, was prepared. 



XII— RUSSIA BECOMES AN AUTOCRACY 

VASSILI, Ivan's son, showed a great resemblance to 
his father. He did not evince any greater love for 
his near relatives, as one of his first acts was to put his 
nephew Dmitri in prison, where he died. One of his 
brothers who did not like his manners, tried to escape, 
but was brought back and severely punished. 

The republic of Pskof, and the dukedoms of Riazan 
and Novgorod-Seversky were still enjoying some degree 
of liberty, which Vassili did not approve. At Pskof, the 
grand duke was represented by a namiestnik, or ducal 
delegate ; the people, citizens and peasants, nobles and 
lower classes, quarreled constantly among themselves, 
but united to quarrel with the delegate. Vassili deter- 
mined to put an end to this. He came to Novgorod to 
hold court, and summoned the magistrates of Pskof to 
appear before him, and when they arrived he ordered 
their arrest. A merchant of Pskof heard of it and,' hurry- 
ing home, told the people. Immediately the bell was rung 
to convoke the vetche, and the masses called for war with 
Moscow. More prudent counsels prevailed when mes- 
sengers arrived from the prisoners, imploring their 
friends not to try a useless resistance and to avoid the 
shedding of blood. A leading citizen was sent to Vassili 

1 06 



to offer him submission ; he was dismissed with the 
answer that one of the diaks or secretaries would come 
to Pskof to let the people know the terms. When that 
officer arrived, he was admitted in the vetche, where he 
informed his hearers that Vassili imposed two conditions, 
namely, that Pskof and the towns subject to it must re- 
ceive his delegates, and that the vetche must be abolished 
and the great bell, used to convoke it, must be taken down. 
Twenty-four hours were asked to deliberate. Before the 
time expired, the vetche met for the last time, when the 
first magistrate addressed the delegate. '' It is written in 
our chronicles," he said, " that our ancestors took oaths to 
the grand duke. The people of Pskof swore never to 
rebel against our lord who is at Moscow, nor to ally 
themselves with Lithuania, with Poland, nor wdth the 
Germans, otherwise the w^rath of God would be upon 
them, bringing with it famine, fires, floods, and the 
invasion of the infidels. If the grand duke, on his part, 
did not observe his vow, he dared the same consequences. 
Now our town and our bell are in the power of God and 
the duke. As for us, we have kept our oath." The 
great bell was taken to Novgorod, and A^assili visited 
" his patrimony." Three hundred wealthy families were 
transported to other cities and replaced by as many 
families from ^Moscow. When he departed from Pskof, 
he left a garrison of 5,000 guards and 500 artillerymen. 
That was the end of the last republic in Russia. (1510.) 
In 1 52 1, it was the turn of Riazan whose duke was 
accused of having entered into an alliance with the Khan 
of the Crimea. He was summoned to ?^Ioscow, where 
he was arrested, but he managed to escape. His duke- 



io8 



dom, however, was annexed to Moscow. Two years 
later, in 1523, the Duke of Novgorod-Severski was put 
in prison for underhand deaHng with Poland, and that 
dukedom was added to Vassili's territories. This 
rounded up Vassili's possessions in Central Russia. 

The grand duke continued his father's policy toward 
Lithuania. When Alexander died, he tried to become 
Grand Duke of Wilna, but the King of Poland was too 
quick for him. War broke out, but neither gained any 
important advantage, and in 1509 a perpetual peace was 
concluded wherein Vassili renounced all claims upon 
Kief and Smolensk. The " perpetual peace " lasted three 
years. Vassili then went to the other extreme, by declar- 
ing that " as long as his horse was in marching condition 
and his sword cut sharp, there should be neither peace 
nor truce with Lithuania." In 15 14, the Russian army 
besieged and took Smolensk, but in the same year they 
were badly defeated in the battle of Orcha. 

The two grand dukes tried to involve as many allies 
as they could. The Khan of the Crimea, the useful 
friend of Vassili's father, had become the son's enemy ; 
Vassili offset him by an alliance with the Khan of Astra- 
khan. When Sigismund tried to secure the help of 
Sweden, Vassili sought that of Denmark ; and when his 
enemy set the Dnieper Cossacks at him, the grand duke 
induced the Teutonic Order to invade Poland. After 
Sigismund was defeated at Smolensk, the Emperor of 
Germany and the Pope offered to mediate ; the latter 
advised Vassili to let Lithuania alone, and to turn his 
attention toward Constantinople. Negotiations com- 
menced in 1520, but it was six years later before a truce 



109 

was concluded. On this occasion Vassili made a speech 
in which he praised Emperor Charles V, and Pope Clem- 
ent \'II, — but Lithuania lost Smolensk. It was during 
this war that the partition of Poland was first mentioned. 

Vassili did not neglect the east, even while engaged in 
the west. Kazan had expelled the nephew of the Khan of 
the Crimea whom Ivan III had appointed, and elected a 
Khan hostile to Russia. Two expeditions were sent 
against the city but nothing was effected. AMien this 
khan died. A'assili succeeded in installing a friendly 
prince, but he was overthrown and a relative of the Khan 
of the Crimea took his place. He prepared a great inva- 
sion of Russia in 1521, and did gain a decided victory on 
the Oka, after which he ravaged the territory of the grand 
duke. \^assili was compelled to humble himself before 
the khan, in order to save Moscow ; he made him pres- 
ents and in the treaty signed by him, called himself the 
khan's tributary. When the khan withdrew, he was 
attacked in Riazan and the treaty was taken away from 
him. The invasion was, however, a calamity for the 
grand dukedom, which was devastated by fire, and a host 
of women and children were carried off, to be sold as 
slaves at Astrakhan and Kaft'a, 

The following year Vassili collected a large army on 
the Oka and challenged the Khan of the Crimea to come 
and give battle. The offer was declined with the remark 
that he knew the way into Russia, and that he was not 
in the habit of consulting his enemies as to when and 
where he was to fight. 

Hoping to profit by the quarrels among the Tartars, 
Vassili sent an expedition to Kazan in 1523, and again in 



no 



1524, but both were unsuccessful. Kazan owed its 
wealth to a fair, which attracted a host of merchants. 
Vassili thought that he would destroy his enemy's pros- 
perity by establishing a rival fair. Accordingly one was 
opened at Makarief, and this time the grand duke's 
expectations were realized. This was the origin of the 
world-famous fair at Nishni Novgorod, whither it was 
transferred afterwards. 

Vassili made a long stride forward in the direction of 
autocracy. He consulted neither boyard nor priest. He 
deposed the Metropolitan and banished him to a mon- 
astery. Prince Kholmski, who was married to one of 
Vassili's sisters, was thrown into prison for failing to 
show abject respect. When one of the boyards com- 
plained that " The grand duke decided all the questions, 
shut up with two others in the bedchamber," the noble 
was promptly arrested, condemned to death, and exe- 
cuted. He interrupted the objection of a high noble 
with, '' Be silent, lout ! " His court displayed great 
splendor, but it was semi-Asiatic. The throne was 
guarded by young nobles called ryndis, dressed in long 
caftans of white satin, high caps of white fur, and carry- 
ing silver hatchets. 

Like his father, he tried to attract artists and learned 
men, and exchanged embassies with most of the Euro- 
pean Courts. He extended the frontiers of his empire, 
but ruthlessly suppressed free thought. It has been 
claimed that the Slav is fit only for an absolute govern- 
ment. The history of Russia contradicts the statement. 
The idea of autocracy was Asiatic and was imported with 
the Tartar yoke. 



XIII— R'AX IV, THE TERRIBLE 

WHEN Vassili died in 1533, he left two infant sons, 
Ivan and George, the elder three years old. His 
widow, Helena Glinski, assumed the regency. She was a 
woman remarkable for spirit and beauty, and showed her 
courage in ruthlessly suppressing every attempt of high 
nobles to contest her authority. She sent her husband's 
brother George to prison, and let him die there. One of 
her own uncles, who had been in her confidence, showed 
too much ambition and suffered the same fate. Andrew, 
another brother of Vassili, tried to make his escape; he 
was promptly brought back and placed in confinement. 
This caused an unimportant war with Poland, ending in a 
truce in 1537. The Tartars of Kazan and the Crimea 
were frequently defeated. But Helena was cordially hated 
by the great nobles at ^Moscow; she was poisoned, and 
died in 1538. 

Ivan, the oldest son and heir, was then eight years old. 
It must be placed to the credit of his mother that he had 
learned to read, for the children were sadly neglected 
after her death, and it w^as the boy's principal solace and 
occupation. In later years Ivan wrote of this time, " We 
and our brother louri (George) were treated like 
strangers, like the children of beggars. We were ill- 

III 



112 



clothed, cold and hungry." What impressed the child 
especially, was that when foreign envoys arrived he was 
placed upon the throne and the same nobles who showed 
him such contemptuous indifference, were respectful 
and even servile on such occasions. He noticed, too, that 
when these proud nobles needed anything, it was neces- 
sary that the papers should be signed by him. All this 
set the child thinking, and being a manly, bright boy, 
he came to the conclusion that, after all, he was the real 
master. 

After many quarrels among themselves, Andrew 
Chouiski, the head of a noble family, had become all- 
powerful ; all important offices were occupied by his 
favorites and friends. Ivan noticed it all, but said noth- 
ing. He was thirteen years old when, after the Christmas 
celebration of 1543, he suddenly summoned the boyards 
before him, and in a threatening tone sternly accused 
them of their misdeeds. " There are among you many 
guilty ones," he said, " but this time I am satisfied with 
making one example." He ordered the guards to seize 
Andrew Chouiski, and had him then and there torn to 
pieces by dogs. After this terrible punishment, he 
ordered the arrest of the most disobedient nobles, who 
were transported to distant places. 

The thirteen-year-old boy then assumed the government, 
relying chiefly upon his mother's relations, the Glinskis. 
In 1547, at the age of seventeen, he directed the Metro- 
politan to crown him, not as Grand Duke but as Czar. In 
a Bible printed in the Slavonic language, he had read 
of the Csar Nebuchadnezzar, the Czar Pharaoh, David, 
Czar of Israel, etc. He knew, besides, that the former 




(113) 



Ivan IV 



114 

masters of the grand dukes, the khans, had been ad- 
dressed by that title. Perhaps it was because he wished 
it to be known that he considered himself the equal of any 
Tartar ruler ; perhaps because he desired to have a title 
superior to that of the nobles who descended from former 
grand dukes, and who inherited the rank without the 
power; at any rate Ivan IV was crowned as the first 
Czar. 

Young as he was, and since his thirteenth year beyond 
control, Ivan's life had been the reverse of good. But 
when, soon after the coronation, he married Anastasia 
Romanof, he made an earnest effort to reform. The 
relatives of his mother and of his wife, the Glinskis and 
the Romanof s, enjoyed his favor at this time. 

There was much suppressed dissatisfaction among the 
nobles, and many plots were hatched against him. In 
the year of his coronation, a fire swept wooden Moscow, 
and about 1,700 people perished in the flames. Ivan 
ordered an investigation, and withdrew to Vorobief. 
Crowds gathered in the thoroughfares, when mysterious 
persons appeared among them declaring that the Glinskis 
had set the city on fire. Soon after shouts were heard, 
" It is the Princess Anne Glinski who, with her two sons, 
has bewitched the city ; she has taken human hearts, 
plunged them in water, and with this water has sprinkled 
the houses. This is the cause of the destruction of Mos- 
cow ! " A mob collected and made for the palace of the 
Glinskis and one of them, George, was stabbed. They 
went on to Vorobief, where they demanded the life of 
Ivan's uncle. The czar's own life was in danger and 
the mob had to be dispersed by force. 



115 

Ivan did not forget this, and terrible was his vengeance 
upon the boyards. At this time he gave his confidence to 
two men, one a priest named Silvester, who had the 
reputation of being a very honest man ; the other, a 
member of the smaller nobility, named Adachef who, in 
1 55 1, as Minister of the Interior, gave to Russian cities 
the first municipal liberties. Ivan showed an unusual 
interest in the people ; it was under his orders that a 
new code of laws (Soudebnik) was prepared, and many 
reiorms were made in the Church. 

This rather increased than diminished the hostility 
of the nobles. Ivan's favorites, Silvester and Adachef 
had grown ambitious and the former especially was over- 
bearing. He openly opposed the czar, and tried to sow 
discord between him and his wife. When Ivan's favorite 
son died, Silvester told him that it was a punishment from 
heaven for his disobedience. The two men tried to 
procure the dismissal of the Glinskis and Romanofs, and 
for that purpose made friends with the boyards whom 
Ivan suspected. In 1553, the czar fell dangerously ill; 
he called in the boyards and ordered them to swear 
loyalty to his infant son Dmitri. They refused. He was 
informed that the nobles were conspiring with his cousin 
\nadimir, whose mother was distributing money in the 
army. He was in terror for the lives of his wife and son. 
Once he said to the boyards who had remained faithful, 
" Do not, I pray you, forget that you have sworn an oath 
to my son and to me ; do not let him fall into the hands 
of the boyards ; fly with him to some foreign country, 
whithersoever God may guide you." Ivan recovered 
but he never could forget the anguish of those days. 



ii6 



Ivan's character at this time was far from bad. He 
was only twenty years old, and on several occasions 
showed that he was compassionate instead of cruel. It 
was only natural that his nature should be perverted, 
surrounded as he was by men of whom he was suspicious. 
Still, such a change could only be gradual. The im- 
mediate consequence of the conduct of his nobles, was 
that it drew him closer to the people. This was shown in 
1506, when he convoked the three orders, nobles, priests, 
and people, to discuss public affairs. 

His first act, after his recovery, was to banish his 
former favorites. Silvester was ordered to the monastery 
of St. Cyril, and Adachef was sent to Livonia. Soon 
afterwards the Czarina Anastasia died ; there was a 
strong suspicion that she had been poisoned. To add to 
his bitterness. Prince Andrew Kourbski, a descendant of 
Rurik and a great friend of Silvester and Adachef, per- 
mitted 15,000 Russians to be defeated by the Poles with 
whom Ivan was at war. Kourbski deserted to the King 
of Poland. 

It appears that Ivan at this time feared for his life, for 
he withdrew to a neighboring castle with his friends, 
servants, and treasures. From there he wrote his abdica- 
tion in two letters, one addressed to the ^Metropolitan, 
the other to the people of Moscow. This action struck 
terror among the nobles and the people. The former 
dreaded that the people might rise and avenge the czar, 
and the people were afraid that the nobles would once 
again usurp the government. The nobles and priests 
consulted and decided to beg Ivan's pardon and to sub- 
mit to any punishment he might impose. Ivan consented 



117 

to return to Moscow but on his own terms. This was 
accepted. After his arrival in the capital he established 
a special guard of one thousand men who had a dog's 
head and a broom hanging from their saddles, to show 
that they were ready to bite and ready to sweep the 
czar's enemies from off Russian soil. 

It was then that Ivan began to earn the surname of The 
Terrible, which has clung to him ever afterwards. We 
have his own record in a letter to the Monastery of St. 
Cyril, in which he asks the prayers of the Church for the 
victims of his vengeance. He appears to have kept a 
careful account, as we read, '' Kazarine Doubrofsky and^ 
his two sons, with ten men who came to their assistance ; " 
" Twenty men of the village of Kolmenskoe ; " " Eighty 
of Matveiche." It amazes us to read, " Remember, Lord, 
the souls of thy servants, to the number of 1,505 persons, 
Novgorodians." The boyards lived in a state of terror ; 
few among them knew how long they would keep their 
heads on their shoulders. Neither rank nor title was a 
safeguard. The Archbishop of Moscow was dismissed, 
and probably murdered. Alexander, George's widow, 
and Ivan's sister-in-law, went to the scaffold. Prince 
Vladimir and his mother, Ivan's uncle and grand-aunt, 
were also executed. It was on this occasion that the 
"Novgorodians, to the number of 1,505 persons" were 
put to death, because Ivan suspected them of a plot to 
open the gates to the King of Poland. In 1571, there was 
another wholesale execution, in which several of Ivan's 
latest favorites were victims. 

The burden of his wrath fell upon the boyards. It may 
have been for the purpose of humiliating them and the 



ii8 



Churchmen that he assembled delegates of those two 
classes to confer with representatives of the merchants of 
Moscow and Smolensk, about the war with Poland. Ivan 
addressed the assembly in person, and it was decided 
that the war should continue. 

It was under his reign that British traders accidentally 
discovered the White Sea and the mouth of the Dwina. 
They came overland to Moscow where they were well 
received and secured several privileges. Ivan was 
anxious to conclude an offensive-defensive alliance with 
Elizabeth of England, and proposed an agreement to 
.furnish each other with an asylum if either of them 
should be compelled to fly from the country through 
being defeated by an enemy or the rebellion of their 
subjects. Elizabeth did not fancy such an alliance, and 
declined the offer of an asylum, " finding," as she de- 
clared, " by the grace of God no dangers of the sort in 
her dominions." Ivan never ceased recurring to, and 
pleading for, such an agreement, thus showing his ever 
present suspicions. 

After commercial intercourse was established with 
England, and British traders settled in Moscow, Ivan 
continued to show them his favor. He was himself the 
greatest merchant of Russia. The furs which he received 
from Siberia were sold to the foreign merchants at 
the fairs. His agents went into the provinces where 
they compelled the people to sell him furs, wax. honey, 
etc., at such prices as he chose to pay, and the foreign 
merchants had to buy them from him at a high price. 
He also bought the imported goods and sold them to 
Russian merchants. They were not permitted to buy 



I 



119 

from anybody else, until the goods of the czar were 
sold. 

At the beginning of his reign, in 1551, Ivan was 
preparing an expedition to Kazan, and in June of the 
following year he descended the Volga and laid siege to 
that city. It was captured after a brave defense, when 
a number of the people were massacred and the rest 
sold as slaves. This conquest was followed by that of 
Astrakhan in 1554; the Volga from its source to its 
mouth was thereafter a Russian river. The Cossacks of 
the Don also submitted to him. 

The European countries bordering on Russia dreaded 
that country's growing power. Ivan, after his corona- 
tion, sent to western Europe to engage a number of 
engineers and mechanics ; these men were stopped on the 
road, and none of them ever reached Moscow. Sigis- 
mund of Poland even threatened to kill the British mer- 
chants on the Baltic, " because," he said, " if the Mus- 
covite, who is not only our present adversary, but the 
eternal enemy of all free countries, should provide him- 
self with guns, bullets, and munitions ; and, above all, 
with mechanics who continue to make arms, hitherto 
unknown in this barbaric country," he would be a menace 
to Europe. Ivan, on the other hand, was equally anxious 
that the Russians should possess all the advantages of 
Europe's superior civilization. This, added to the in- 
herited hostility between the two countries, caused many 
wars. 

While Ivan was pursuing his conquests in the south, 
he was attacked by Gustavus Wasa, Sweden's famous 
king, .who entertained the same fears as the King of 



120 



Poland. The war ended by a commercial treaty whereby 
Swedish merchants might trade with India and China 
by way of Russia, and those of Russia with Holland, 
England, and France by way of Sweden. This war had 
scarcely ceased before envoys of the Livonian Order 
arrived to request a renewal of the truce. Ivan de- 
manded tribute for lourief which he claimed as his 
" patrimony." This was refused, and war was declared. 
It was owing to Ivan that this brotherhood was dissolved 
and its territory divided. In 1566, a truce was proposed 
by Poland. 

It was on this occasion that he called the assembly 
referred to on page 116. The war continued. Ivan was 
attacked also by Sultan Selim II of Turkey, in 1569, and 
the Khan of the Crimea marched straight upon Moscow, 
set fire to the suburbs, and destroyed the capital except 
the Kremlin. He carried off a hundred thousand 
prisoners. (1571.) As he withdrew, he wrote to Ivan: 
'' I burn, I ravage everything on account of Kazan and 
Astrakhan. I came to )OU and burned Moscow. I 
wished to have your crown and your head, but you did 
not show yourself ; you declined a battle and you dare 
call yourself a Czar of Moscow!" Will you live at peace 
with me? Yield me up Kazan and Astrakhan. If you 
have only money to offer me, it will be useless were it 
the riches of the world. What I want is Kazan and 
Astrakhan ! As to the roads to your empire, I have seen 
them — I know them." The khan made another invasion 
the next year, 1572, but was defeated. 

In the same year Sigismund Augustus II of Poland 
died. There was a party at Warsaw that proposed to 



121 



elect Ivan's son, but the czar wanted Poland for himself. 
He failed in the attempt, and the Duke of Anjou, brother 
of the King of France, was chosen. He did not like the 
people and fled ; his place was filled by Stephen Batory, 
Governor of Transsylvania, a young, capable, and ener- 
getic noble. Batory took in his service a number of 
trained German and Hungarian soldiers, and took 
Polotsk after a brave defense. He also captured several 
other towns, but was repulsed at Pskof . 

Ivan sought the mediation of Pope Gregory XIII, and 
a truce was concluded in 1582; Ivan ceded Polotsk and 
all Livonia. 

Ivan, in his manhood, was a man of violent temper. 
He w^as never seen without an iron-tipped staff, which he 
used freely and recklessly upon the people around him. 
Nobody, whatever his rank, was safe from corporal 
punishment. He killed his eldest son Ivan with a blow, 
and. suffered from remorse ever afterward. He left a 
lasting impression upon Russia by his reforms. He made 
a law whereby neither church nor convents could acquire 
new lands. He was wonderfully well educated, consider- 
ing the neglect of his early youth, and tolerant of religious 
opinions. A Presbyterian and a Lutheran church were 
built at Moscow with his consent, but in deference to the 
opposition of the people, they were removed to the 
surburbs. He was also the founder of the streltsi or 
national guard. 

Ivan died in 1584, after a reign of forty-one years. 



XIV— RUSSIA UNDER IVAN THE TERRIBLE 

nPHE reign of Ivan the Terrible is remarkable, first, 
-■- because it is the beginning of Russia as we know it 
in our time ; and also because it occurred at a time when 
Great Britain was exploring the Atlantic, and preparing 
the way for the wonderful expansion of the English- 
speaking race, which culminated in the great North 
American Republic. It was under this reign, in 1558, 
that Russia's invasion of Asia began, and with it a move- 
ment eastward, which has not yet ceased. 

It is interesting, therefore, to study the condition of 
the Russian people at this important period. Although, 
as we have seen, the Tartar yoke did not influence the 
people directly, because there was no intercourse between 
victor and vanquished, the indirect influence was great, 
owing to the adoption of Tartar habits or customs by the 
dukes and nobles, during their visits to the khan. Dur- 
ing this time intercourse with Europe ceased ; hence, in 
the 1 6th and 17th centuries, Russia was more Asiatic 
than European, although the Russians hated the victors. 
Who can say how much influence this has exerted upon 
Russia's conquests in Asia? 

Among the old Slavs, the family was the unit from 
which the State was built up, and this was confirmed 

122 



123 

under the Tartar yoke. There is some similarity between 
the Empire of Russia and that of China, for there, too, 
the family is the unit. In both countries the Emperor is 
not only the master, he is also considered as the father 
and high priest of his people. Their persons and property 
are the eniperor's, to do with as he pleases. But in Rus- 
sia there was a nobility descended from the former 
dukes ; in China there was none, except the descendant 
of Confucius. Yet in Russia these lords, many of whom 
traced their descent to Rurik, became in time the slaves 
of the czar. They prostrated themselves before him, as 
they had seen the courtiers of the khan do. \Mien they 
presented a petition, they expressed it by the word 
tchclohitic, which means " beating of the forehead," 
showing that they performed what is known in China as 
the kozi'toz\.'. In addressing the czar, they said, " Order 
me not to be chastised ; order me to speak a word ! " 
The Grand Dukes of Moscow considered their territory 
and the people on it, as their own private property. They 
had learned this from the khans. The palace, a mixture 
of oriental splendor and barbarism, showed the influence 
of the Tartars. 

The people of Russia were divided into classes, the 
lowest of which were the slaves or kJiolop, prisoners of 
war, men who had sold themselves, or who were born 
in slavery. Above them were the peasants, born on the 
estate of a noble, but still known as free men. Then 
came the peasants who farmed the land of an owner, 
but these were few. ^Nluch of the land was owned by the 
several mirs or villages, but in the course of time they 
were assigned to gentlemen, who were able to serve in 



124 

the army without pay, being supported by the revenues 
derived from these villages. Gradually these gentlemen 
looked upon the land of the mir as their own property, 
but the peasants never did lose the conviction that the 
mir was the real proprietor. In Ivan's time and later, 
the mir and not the individual, was held responsible for 
the tax to the czar, for the free labor furnished to the 
lord, and for his dues. The mir, therefore, was absolute 
master over every inhabitant of the village, and this 
power was vested in the starosf. The peasant gradually 
descended into a beast of burden, who was not even a 
human being, but merely a productive force for the bene- 
fit of the State and of the lord. 

A Russian town consisted, first of the kremlin, a fort- 
ress of wood which, when required, was defended by 
'* men of the service''; then came the suburbs, built 
around the kremlin, and inhabited by the people. They 
were governed by a vo'ievod or governor, appointed by 
the czar, or by a starost or mayor, elected by the nobles, 
priests, and privileged citizens. The principal duty of 
the citizens was to pay the taxes, and therefore they were 
forbidden to leave the city. Under the Czar Alexis, the 
penalty for such offense was death. 

The merchants did not form a separate class. They 
are known in Russian as gosti or guests, thus showing 
that, notwithstanding the old and honorable record of 
Novgorod and Kief, the Tartar yoke and subsequent arbi- 
trary rule of the grand dukes had ruined trade or left 
it in the hands of aliens. Ivan the Terrible called them 
the moujiks of commerce. Fletcher, an Englishman who 
spent many years in Moscow under Ivan IV, gives the 



125 

following curious pen picture : *' Often you will see 
them trembling with fear, lest a boyard should know what 
they have to sell. I have seen them at times, when they 
had spread out their wares so that you might make a 
better choice, look all around them, — as if they feared 
an enemy would surprise- them and lay hands on them. 
If I asked them the cause, they would say to me, ' I was 
afraid that there might be a noble or one of the sons of 
boyards here : they would take away my merchandise by 
force.'" 

The Russian women were kept secluded in women's 
quarters as they are in China, but they remained a mem- 
ber of their own family. A wife's duty was '' to obey 
her husband as the slave obeys his master," and she was 
taught to think of herself as her master's property. He 
had the right to punish her as he did his children or his 
slaves. The priest Silvester advises the husband not to 
use sticks that are too thick or tipped with iron, nor to 
whip her before his men, but to correct her moderately 
and in private. No Russian woman dared object to 
being beaten. A Russian proverb says : '' I love you 
like my soul, and I dust you like my jacket." 

The men wore oriental tunics or robes, and a long 
beard ; the women painted their faces. Ivan the Terrible 
said that to shave the beard was " a sin that the blood of 
all the martyrs could not cleanse. Was it not to defile 
the image of man created by God? " 

There was a general belief in magic and witchcraft ; 
sorcerers were burned alive in a cage. Ivan, although in 
advance of his age, was not free from superstition. The 
art of medicine was, of course, still in its infancy, and 



126 



those who practiced it were in constant danger of their 
Hves, because if they did not cure a patient, they might 
suffer for it. 

Both the nobles and the people w^ere addicted to the 
vice of drunkenness. No one paid any attention when a 
person, rich or poor, young or old, fell down in the street 
from the effects of drink. This is what the priests said of 
this vice : '' My brethren, what is worse than drunken- 
ness? You lose memory and reason like a madman who 
does not know what he is doing. The drunkard is sense- 
less ; he lies like a corpse. If you speak to him he does 
not answer. Think of his poor soul which grows foul in 
its vile body which is its prison. ... To drink is law- 
ful and is to the glory of God, who has given us wine to 
make us rejoice." 

The Metropolitan of Moscow, until a Patriarch was 
appointed, was supposed to be the head of the Church, 
but the czar held the real power. There were two classes 
of priests : The Black Clergy lived as monks in monas- 
teries, some of which were exceedingly wealthy ; they 
were forbidden to marry, and the bishops were appointed 
from among them. The White Clergy lived among the 
people and wxre compelled to marry. j\Iost of them 
were grossly ignorant. The same Englishman quoted be- 
fore, Mr. Fletcher, says of these priests : '' As for ex- 
horting or instructing their flock, they- have neither the 
habit of it nor the talent for it, for all the clergy are as 
profoundly ignorant of the ^^'ord of God as of all other 
learning." 

The revenues of the Empire consisted of a tax on every 
sixty measures of corn ; of a house-tax, or tax on every 



127 

fire ; the customhouse dues, and what remained of the 
municipal taxes after paying expenses ; of a tax on pubHc 
baths ; the farming out of lands belonging to the crown ; 
the fines and confiscations in the '' Court of the Bri- 
gands ; " and finally of the tribute paid by thirty-six towns 
and their landed possessions " belonging to the Crown." 

The Courts of Justice belonged to the Middle Ages ; 
tortures were applied similar to those employed by the 
Spanish Inquisition. A wife who murdered her husband 
" was buried alive up to her neck." Heretics were 
burned at the stake ; sorcerers were burned in an iron 
cage, and coiners had liquid metal poured down their 
throats. A noble who killed a moujik was fined or some- 
times whipped ; but he might kill as many slaves as he 
pleased, because they were his property. 

The Russian infantry, so famous under the early 
Norsemen, had given way to cavalry, in imitation of the 
Tartars. The Imperial Guard was composed of 8,000 
young nobles. The " men-at-arms " were mounted, but 
received no pay beyond the revenue of their lands, which 
they held in return for their military service. The army 
numbered about 80,000, and, with a levy among the peas- 
ants, could be brought up to 300,000. There was, be- 
sides, the irregular cavalry of the Don Cossacks, and of 
the Tartars. Such infantry as there was, consisted of 
peasants from the crown lands, churches, and convents ; 
the national guard, and foreign soldiers or officers. 




(128) 



Feodor 



XV— FEODOR, THE LAST OF RURIK'S ^ 
DESCENDANTS 

IVAN the Terrible left two sons, Feodor, the son of 
Anastasia Romanof, and Dmitri, a child, the son of 
his seventh wife. Feodor was neither a strong-minded 
nor a very able man. He was married to Irene Godou- 
nof, and, following the usual custom, his wife's relations 
held the principal offices of the government. Gradually 
the czar's authority passed into the hands of Prince Boris 
Godounof, Irene's brother, a very ambitious and unscru- 
pulous man. Wizards had foretold that Boris would be 
czar, but that his reign w^ould last only seven years, and 
he did all he could to aid his destiny. 

He first caused Feodor's half-brother, Dmitri, to be 
sent with his mother and her relations to Ouglitch, where 
they would be out of the way. He also caused the Metro- 
politan to be dismissed, and had a friend appointed in 
his place. He aroused the higher nobles against him, 
and then made an effort to make friends with the smaller 
nobility, — at the expense of the poor peasants. Accord- 
ing to law, these people were free ; that is, when the con- 
tract with a landowner expired, they could move where 
they pleased, and the large owners could offer better 
terms than those w^ho held small estates. But without 

129 



130 

labor, the land was worthless and Russia, at the time, was 
so sparsely populated, that every hand counted. The 
object of the government was not to open up new lands, 
so as to create prosperity, but to provide for its current 
wants by seeing that the taxes were paid, and that the 
army was kept up to its standard. How could the men- 
at-arms, that is the small nobility, defray their own ex- 
penses while serving, if their revenues failed from lack 
of labor? Boris Godounof, therefore, made a law for- 
bidding peasants to go from one estate to another. They 
were tied to the ground, and this was the first step to 
make serfs of them. The peasants did object; they had 
been accustomed to change service on St. George's day, 
and that day remained for many years one of deep sor- 
row. There was no rebellion, but a great many fled, and 
joined the Cossacks. After some years the law was 
changed so that peasants were permitted to change from 
one small estate to another. 

Another change under Feodor's reign was the appoint- 
ment of a Patriarch as the head of the Greek Church 
under the czar. He was placed above the several Metro- 
politans, and thus the Church secured more unity. 

Feodor had no heirs, and his health was bad. It was, 
therefore, to young Dmitri at Ouglitch that the great 
nobles looked for relief from Godounof's tyranny. In 
1 591, this man sent hired assassins to Ouglitch and the 
youngest son of Ivan was murdered. Some of the hire- 
lings were arrested by the people, and put to death. 
There was not even a doubt as to the facts. But God- 
ounof ordered an investigation by his own friends ; they 
declared that the young heir had committed suicide in a 



131 

fit of insanity, and that the people of Ouglitch had put 
innocent men to deatli. The assassination of Dmitri's 
relatives, and the depopulation of Ouglitch made further 
inquiry impossible. 

Stephen Batory who had worsted Ivan the Terrible, 
died in 1586, and the throne of Poland was once again 
vacant. Godounof tried hard to have Feodor elected, 
but the Poles feared that the czar might attach their 
kingdom to Moscow like a sleeve to a coat. '' Besides, 
the Roman Catholic electors did not like the thought of 
having a king belonging to the Greek Church ; last of 
all, money counted in these elections, and Godounof was 
a very saving man. The result was that the Prince of 
Sweden was elected, and that war with Sweden broke 
out. 

The Poles, fearing lest Sweden should grow too power- 
ful, held aloof ; as a consequence, Russia gained back the 
towns which had been lost under Ivan the Terrible. 
Godounof made an effort to bring about a war between 
Poland and Sweden, but he only succeeded in arousing 
the suspicion and dislike of both countries. 

Feodor died in 1598; with him the house of Rurik, the 
old Norse \'iking, ceased to exist. 

By trickery and knavery, Boris Godounof was elected 
czar by the doiinia or council of nobles, a body presided 
over by his friend the Patriarch, and containing many 
of his partisans. The great nobles, many of whom traced 
their descent to Rurik, objected to a czar, whom they 
considered and called an upstart. But Boris displayed 
cruelty as well as severity. Feodor, the eldest of the 
noble familv of the Romanofs, was forced to become a 



132 

monk and his wife a nun. He took the name of Phila- 
rete, and she that of Marfa. 

Godounof did reign seven years, according to the 
wizard's prediction, but it was a stormy time for Russia. 
A young adventurer named Gregory Otrepief, pretended 
that he was the murdered Dmitri, and secured a large 
following. The troops sent against him " had no hands 
to fight but only feet to fly." At Godounof's death, in 
1605, he confided his son and heir to a favorite named 
Basmanof, who turned traitor, joined the false Dmitri, 
and caused Godounof's widow and son to be murdered. 
Otrepief, who lacked neither courage nor ability, was 
made czar, but he reigned little over a month, when he, 
too, was murdered by a band of nobles under the leader- 
ship of Chouiski. This man seized the throne in 1606. 
The people in the country, owing to its vast extent and 
the poor roads, heard of Otrepief's coronation, his death, 
and the succession of Chouiski almost at the same time, 
and anarchy followed. At the same time Russia was in- 
volved in a war with Poland, at the time when a second 
false Dmitri made his appearance. The Cossacks and 
a host of Polish adventurers joined him, and he laid siege 
to the immensely wealthy Troitsa monastery, where the 
monks defended themselves for sixteen months, and he 
was forced to withdraw. Affairs came to such a pass 
that the people of Moscow " humbly requested the czar 
to abdicate, because he was not successful, and also be- 
cause he was to blame for the shedding of Christian blood. 
Chouiski was forced to yield, and soon after entered a 
monastery as a monk. 

Two candidates appeared for the vacant throne ; the 



i33 

second false Dmitri and Vladislas, the second son of 
Sigismund, King of Poland. The douma, not fancying 
the idea that an impostor should rule over them, invited 
the hetman of a Polish army to Moscow, to discuss the 
other candidate. This hetman promised in name of the 
prince to maintain the Greek Church and the privileges 
of the three orders, nobles, priests, and people, and 
that the law-making power should be shared by the czar 
and the douma; that no one should be executed without 
a trial, or deprived of his dignity without good reason ; 
and finally, that Russians might go abroad to be educated 
if they so desired. Vladislas was then elected czar on 
condition that he should enter the Greek Church, and two 
envoys, one of them Philarete Romanof who had risen 
to the rank of Metropolitan, left for the Polish camp at 
Smolensk to complete the necessary arrangements. The 
douma invited the hetman to occupy the kremlin with 
his shoulders. He did so, taking the late Czar Chou'iski 
and his two brothers as hostages. 

At Smolensk a difficulty occurred : the King of Poland 
wanted the Russian throne for himself. He also asked 
the envoys to cede Smolensk to Poland; they refused, 
and in turn asked that Vladislas should leave at once 
for Moscow. The king refused his consent, and began 
to use money. He found many Russian traitors willing 
to accept it, but the envoys remained firm. 

Soon after this, the second false Dmitri died, and the 
people began to show an interest in the dispute with 
Sigismund. Leading men at Moscow and Smolensk 
wrote to the provinces, begging their friends not to recog- 
nize the King of Poland as czar. Men-at-arms gathered, 
Sto. of Russia — 9 



134 

and when an army of them drew near Moscow, the Poles 
fortified the KremHn. At this time a quarrel arose be- 
tween the PoHsh troops and the people, and some 7,000 
persons were killed. The Russians made a stand in the 
suburbs, when the Poles set fire to the city, and the 
greater part of Moscow was burned. 

Sigismund ordered the arrest of the two envoys who 
were taken to Marienburg in Prussia under escort. 
Smolensk fell soon after into his hands, and the king 
returned to Warsaw which he entered in triumph with 
the last Czar Chou'iski a prisoner in his train. By this 
time the Russians were aroused ; 100,000 men-at-arms 
gathered at Moscow and besieged the Poles in the Krem- 
lin. Meanwhile Sweden had declared war, giving as 
reason the election of Vladislas, and had captured the 
ports on the Baltic. The monks of Troitsa, whose heroic 
defense against the second false Dmitri had made the 
convent famous, sent letters to all the Russian cities bid- 
ding them fight for their country and religion. When 
this letter was read in public at Nishni Novgorod, a 
butcher, Kouzma Minine spoke up : " If we wish to 
save the Muscovite Empire," he said, " we must spare 
neither our lands nor our goods ; let us sell our houses 
and put our wives and children out to service ; let us seek 
a man who will fight for the national faith, and march 
under his banner." He set the example by giving one"- 
third of all he possessed, and others followed. Those 
who refused to contribute were' compelled to do so. 
Minine was elected treasurer ; he accepted on condition 
that his orders should be obeyed without delay. Believ- 
ing that the leadership should be given to a noble, Minine 



135 

went to Prince Pojarski who lived in the neighborhood. 
Pojarski accepted the command, and ordered three days 
of fasting and prayer. The streltsi were equipped as well 
as the men-at-arms ; but the services of Cossacks and 
foreign mercenaries were refused. 

An army was collected and marched toward Moscow, 
with bishops and monks carrying holy eikons at the head ; 
at laroslaf they were reenforced by other troops. They 
laid siege to the Kremlin ; an attempt to relieve the fort- 
ress by the Poles was defeated. At last the garrison was 
forced to surrender. Among the Russian prisoners who 
regained their liberty was a fifteen-year-old boy, Michael 
Romanof, the son of Philarete and Marfa. 

Sigismund was on the way to reenforce the garrison, 
but hearing of its surrender, he fell back. An assembly 
was convoked to elect a czar. It was composed of dele- 
gates of the clergy, the nobles, the men-at-arms, the mer- 
chants, towns, and districts. There was much bickering, 
but all were agreed that no alien should be presented. 
When the name of Michael Romanof was called, it was 
received with enthusiasm, and he was declared elected. 
(1613.) The delegates remembered the relation between 
his family and Ivan the Terrible, and the services ren- 
dered by his father, the Metropolitan Philarete. There 
is a story that the King of Poland, when he heard of 
Michael's election, tried to kidnap him at Kostroma, and 
that a peasant guide led the party astray on a dark night. 
When the Poles discovered it, he was struck dead. This 
is the subject of a famous opera " A Life for the Czar." 

Russia's efforts to resume intercourse with Europe, 
which during the Tartar yoke had been suspended, were 



136 

continued under Godounof. He sent an ambassador to 
Queen Elizabeth with a letter, in which he says : — '' I 
have learned that the Queen had furnished help to the 
Turks against the Emperor of Germany. We are as- 
tonished at it, as to act thus is not proper for Christian 
sovereigns ; and you, our well-beloved sister, you ought 
not in the future to enter into relationships of friendship 
with Mussulman princes, nor to help them in any way, 
whether with men or money ; but on the contrary should 
desire and insist that all the great Christian potentates 
should have a good understanding, union, and strong 
friendship, and unite against the ^lussulmans, till the 
hand of the Christian rise and that of the Mussulman is 
abased." Judging from Elizabeth's character, it is 
likely that she shrugged her shoulders as she read this 
sermon. During the period of Russia's internal troubles, 
and owing to the vacancy of the throne, the relations with 
Europe were again suspended. 



XVI— MICHAEL FEODOROVITCH OR MICHAEL, 

THE SON OF THEODORE, THE FIRST 

ROMANOF. 

FIFTEEN years of anarchy left Russia in disorder. 
The boyards had done as they pleased since there 
was no one to control them. The peasants who asked for 
nothing but a simple existence, had seen their crops 
trampled under foot, and their homes laid in ruins. It 
needed a strong hand to restore order ; more than could 
be expected from a fifteen-year-old boy, who had neither 
the iron will of Ivan the Terrible, nor the advantage of 
having grown up with the conviction that he was the 
Master. Besides, although his election had been regular, 
the Don Cossacks and others refused to recognize him 
as the czar. On the other hand, the patriots stood by 
him. But the conditions were such that a foreigner in 
Moscow wrote at the time : " Oh that God would open 
the eyes of the czar as He opened those of Ivan, other- 
wise Muscovy is lost ! " 

There was no money in the treasury, and the men-at- 
arms demanded pay because they received no revenues 
from their ruined estates. The czar and the clergy 
wrote to the Russian towns begging them for money and 
for troops to help the government, and a generous re- 

137 



138 

sponse was made. The people of the provinces, anxious 
to see law and order restored, rose in favor of the czar, 
and Astrakhan sent a rebel chief to prison. He was 
shortly afterwards tried and executed. 

While the people were thus aidin-^^ the government, no 
time was lost in dealing with the foreign enemy. In 
1614, Michael sent envoys to Holland to request help in 
men and money. The Dutch gave a small sum, regret- 
ting that they could do no more as they had just ended 
a war that had lasted forty-one years (i 568-1 609) ; they 
promised that they would persuade Sweden to come to 
an understanding with Russia. Another embassy went 
to James I of England, who was told that the Poles had 
murdered British merchants and plundered their ware- 
houses. This was a falsehood, because the envoys knew 
that the outrage had been committed by Cossacks and a 
Russian mob, but they hoped that the king would not 
know it. James did not, and advanced 20,000 rubles. 
After this British merchants demanded concessions and 
privileges in Russia, but as they asked too much, they 
received nothing. Sweden, urged by England and Hol- 
land, concluded with Russia the Peace of Stolbovo in 
1617. Sweden received an indemnity of 20,000 rubles, 
and surrendered Novgorod and other towns. 

The war with Poland was then continued more vigor- 
ously, and in 161 8 a truce of fourteen years and six 
months was arranged. It was understood that this was 
temporary, because the King of Poland still claimed the 
throne of Russia, and refused to recognize Michael. 
But the prisoners were released and Philarete, the czar's 
father, returned to Moscow, where his presence was soon 




(i39) 



Michael Feodorovitch 



140 

felt by the nobles. The most independent were arrested 
and sent into exile. So long as Philarete assisted his 
son, there was no disorder. 

In 1618, the great struggle between Protestant and 
Roman Catholic Europe began and Sweden, which was 
to take such a glorious part in it, sought Russia's aid. 
Gustavus wrote to Michael telling him that if the Cath- 
olic league should prevail, the Greek Church would be 
in danger. *' When your neighbor's house is on fire,'' 
he wrote, '' you must bring water and try to extinguish 
it, to guarantee your own safety. May your Czarian 
Majesty help your neighbors to protect yourself." Sound 
as the advice was, Russia had enough to do at home. 
Sultan Osman of Turkey offered an alliance against 
Poland, when Michael convoked the Estates. The dep- 
uties beat their foreheads," and implored the czar " to 
hold himself firm for the holy churches of God, for his 
czarian honor, and for their own country against the 
enemy. The men-at-arms were ready to fight, and the 
merchants to give money." The war was postponed 
when news arrived that the Turks had been defeated. 

Sigismund of Poland died in 1632, and his son Vla- 
dislas was elected. The following year Philarete died, 
and the nobles, released from his stern supervision, re- 
sumed their former behavior. The war between the two 
neighbors recommenced, but did not last long. When a 
new truce was concluded Michael's title as czar was 
recognized by Vladislas. 

It was entirely the fault of the Polish nobles that 
Poland lost Lithuania or White Russia. The only ex- 
cuse that can be offered, is the spirit of religious per- 



HI 

sedition which was rampant all over Europe in the 
seventeenth century. It was the ceaseless efifort of the 
Poles to force the Lithuanians from the Greek into the 
Roman Church that drove them into the arms of Rus- 
sia ; but it was not until after the death of Michael, in 
1645, ^^^^^ the consequences of this short-sighted policy 
were to show. 

Michael was succeeded by his son, who ascended the 
throne as Alexis Michaelovitch. He was better educated 
than his father had been and resembled him in good na- 
ture. He had been taught by a tutor named Morozof, 
who during thirty years exerted a great influence over his 
pupil. When Alexis married into the Miloslavski fam- 
ily, its members secured the most influential positions, 
according to well-established custom. Morozof did not 
oppose them ; instead he courted and married the czar- 
ina's sister, and thus became the czar's brother-in-law. 

The wars in which Russia was engaged and the 
necessity of maintaining a large and well-equipped army, 
together with the increasing expenses of the Court, and 
above all, the dishonest practices of the officials ren- 
dered the burden of taxation so unbearable, that several 
revolts broke out. In 1648, the people of Moscow rose 
and demanded the surrender of a judge and another of- 
ficer, both of whom were notoriously corrupt ; the two 
men were promptly murdered. Then the popular fury 
turned upon Morozof, who would have suffered the same 
fate, had not the czar helped him to escape. The gov- 
ernment was helpless. In some ])laces, such as Pskof, 
Novgorod, and elsewhere, the streltsi joined the people, 
and Russia was for some time at the mercy of an enemy. 



142 

It was fortunate for Russia that just at that time, Po- 
land had serious trouble at home. A Cossack, owner of 
a large estate, educated and brave, was ill-treated and 
imprisoned by a Polish landowner ; and his little son was 
publicly whipped. He went to Warsaw and laid his com- 
plaint before the king. Vladislas told him plainly that 
the nobles were beyond his control ; then, pointing to his 
sword, he asked if the Cossack could not help himself. 
The Cossack took the hint, went home, and when the 
Polish landowners tried to arrest him, he fled to the 
Khan of the Crimea, interested him in his cause and 
returned at the head of a Mussulman army. Lithuania 
rose in rebellion against Poland ; the governors and no- 
bles, and especially the priests of the Catholic Church, 
were hunted down, and those of the Greek Church took 
revenge for recent injuries and insults. 

Vladislas died, and the Diet elected his brother John 
Casimir. He tried to reduce the very serious rebellion 
by promises, but there was too deep a hatred between the 
two churches. Meanwhile order had been restored in 
Russia, when the people of Lithuania wrote to the czar 
begging him to take them under his protection. Alexis 
convoked the Estates, told them that he had been insulted 
by Poland, and that the Poles were persecuting the mem- 
bers of the Greek Church. They declared in favor of 
war, and a boyard was sent to Kief to receive the oath of 
allegiance. The people were willing provided their liber- 
ties would be respected. This the czar promised. He 
declared that the privileges of the Assembly and of the 
towns would be maintained, that only natives would be 
employed in the administration and in taxation. 



143 

Poland was now sorely pressed. Charles X of Sweden 
invaded the kingdom and took two of its capitals. The 
Cossack and Lithuanians entered it from the south, and 
the Czar Alexis at the head of his own army attacked it 
on the east. He maintained strict discipline so that the 
Polish Governors said, " Moscow makes war in quite a 
new way, and conquers the people by the clemency and 
good-nature of the czar. The towns of White Russia 
opened their gates to his army, and Smolensk surrendered 
after a five weeks' siege. The Swedes captured War- 
saw, the last capital of the misruled kingdom. 

It was the jealousy of its enemies that saved Poland 
this time. Alexis entered into a truce and attacked Swe- 
den. This war was carried on from 1656 until 1661, 
and ended by the peace of Cardis whereby neither coun- 
try gained any advantage. The Poles, seeing the dan- 
ger they had incurred, rallied, and once again war broke 
out with Russia. It was carried on with various success 
until both countries were exhausted. In 1661, a thirteen 
years' truce was concluded, whereby Russia restored 
Lithuania, but kept Little Russia on the left bank of the 
Dnieper, together with Kief and Smolensk. 

In 1668, a revolt was organized by the Metropolitan 
of Kief, who preferred the jurisdiction of the Patriarch 
of Constantinople to that of Moscow. As a result. Little 
Russia was subject to all the horrors of war, but the 
Russian power prevailed in the end. Then the Cossacks 
of the Don broke out, and until 1671 the territory 
between that river and the Volga suffered terribly. 

Alexis' reign was remarkable for the introduction of 
so-called " reforms " in the Church, which were confined 



144 

wholly to ceremonies and externals. The czar supported 
the " reformer " Nicon, and those who did not agree 
with him were called religions madmen and suffered per- 
secution. The monasteries near Archangel rebelled and 
troops were sent against them ; but it was eight months 
before the sturdy monks capitulated. 

Alexis continued his father's efforts to reestablish in- 
tercourse with Western Europe. . But the West was only 
recovering from the terrible Thirty Years' War, so that 
little interest was shown. 

Alexis had married twice. From the first marriage 
he had two sons Feodor and Ivan, and six daughters ; 
by his second wife he had one son, Peter, and two daugh- 
ters. When he died, in 1676, he was succeeded by his 
eldest son Feodor. 

Feodor Alexievitch, the third czar of the Romanof 
family, reigned only six years, from 1676 to 1682. It 
was under his reign that a truce for twenty years with 
Turkey, restored peace to White Russia. 

Hitherto Russia had suffered from the rivalry result- 
ing from disputes caused by precedence of birth ; gen- 
erals had lost battles, because they refused to serve 
under men whom they looked upon as inferiors. At an 
assembly of the higher clergy, it was resolved to burn 
the Book of Rank, and the czar made a law that any one 
disputing about his rank, should lose it as well as his 
property. 

To protect the Greek Church from dividing into sects, 
an academy was founded at Moscow where the Slav, 
Latin, and Greek languages were taught. 



XVII— EARLY YEARS OF PETER THE GREAT 
(PETER ALEXIEVITCH) 

FEODOR died childless, and should have been suc- 
ceeded by his little brother Ivan, but the child was 
of unsound mind. The other son of Alexis, Peter, was the 
child of his last wife, and nine years old at the time. The 
question about the succession was discussed in the Coun- 
cil, and decided in Peter's favor, and his mother Natalia 
became Regent. Among Peter's half sisters was one, 
Sophia, twenty-five years old, who did not propose to 
submit to this decision. She took part in Feodor's 
funeral, in defiance of the law which forbade women to 
appear in public, and after it schemed and plotted to 
form a party in her favor. A rumor was spread that 
the czarina's brother had seized the throne and that 
Ivan had been murdered. The people of Moscow rose, 
and the streltsi marched to the kremlin where the ap- 
pearance of Natalia with the two children made the mob 
hesitate. Unfortunately Prince Dolgorouki addressed 
the men in violent language ; they seized him on their 
pikes and killed him. They then stabbed the czarina's 
foster father, Matveef, in her presence, and sacked the 
palace, murdering many of its inmates. One of Natalia's 
brothers was thrown out of a window and caught on 

145 



146 

the points of the lances of the streltsi who were waiting 
below. Natalia's father and brother were taken from 
her ; Cyril, the father, was sent to a monastery and her 
brother Ivan was tortured and cut to pieces, although 
the czarina went on her knees begging for his life. The 
streltsi acted under authority from Sophia when they 
committed these outrages. After this rioting had con- 
tinued seven days, the streltsi sent their commandant 
Khovanski to the douma, to demand that there should be 
two czars. Ivan, with Peter as his assistant. The douma 
did not fancy the idea, — but there were the streltsi with 
their pikes, and they carried the day. 

From this time it was Sophia w4io was the real czar. 
She reigned in name of the two half-brothers, and 
showed herself in public, insisting upon being present on 
every occasion. The Russians as a rule are not fond of 
new fashions; they did not like this, and objected so 
strongly that Sophia was forced to give way. Thereafter 
the two young czars sat in public on the throne, but it 
was constructed in such a manner that Sophia could hear 
and see without being visible. 

She shocked every Russian by her manners until the 
streltsi began to speak of her as " the scandalous person." 
They hated her when she persecuted the raskolnik or 
Old Believers, that is, the men who objected to the re- 
forms of Xicon. At last she thought that it was not 
safe for her to remain at ^loscow ; she fled to the strong 
convent at Tro'itsa, taking with her the czarina and the 
two little tsars, and there summoned the men-at-arms 
whom she could trust. Khovanski, the commandant of 
the streltsi, was summoned before her ; he was arrested 



147 

Oil the way, and put to death with his son. The streltsi 
were considering another revolt, when they were seized 
with a panic ; instead of marching upon Tro'itsa, they 
went there to beg her pardon. Sophia forgave them, but 
their leaders were executed. 

Sophia trusted the government to two favorites, Prince 
Galitsyne who was at the head of Foreign Affairs, and 
Chaklovity whom she made commandant of the streltsi. 
Galitsyne tried hard to form an alliance among the 
Christian powers against the Turks and Tartars. His 
scheme failed because Louis XIV of France kept the 
whole of Western Europe in turmoil by his constant wars 
with the House of Austria, and the Christian princes had 
to look after their own interests. He was more fortunate 
in Poland where John Sobieski was king. A treaty of 
" perpetual " peace was concluded between Russia and 
Poland at Androussovo, in 1686, and an alliance was 
entered into against the Turks. 

In 1687, an army of 100,000 Russians and 50,000 
Cossacks marched against the Crimea. The Tartars had 
burned the steppes, and the Russians suffered such 
severe hardships that they were forced to retreat. The 
hetman of the Cossacks was accused of treachery, and 
deported to Siberia, when Mazeppa, who had been 
his secretary, was appointed hetman. In the spring of 
1689, the Russians under Galitsyne and the Cossacks 
under Mazeppa started again for the Crimea, but they 
had no better success than before. 

Peter, who was born in 1673, was then sixteen years 
old, but being tall and strongly built, he looked much 
older. He was bright and anxious to learn, and at an 



148 

early age had shown that he possessed a will of his own. 
He had read much, but his tutor, a man named Zorof, 
had allowed him to have his own way, and when the 
boy grew up to be a man, he made that tutor " the arch- 
priest of fools." When the boy was tired, Zorof would 
allow him to put his work aside, and would read to him 
about the great deeds of his father Alexis, and of those 
of Ivan the Terrible, their campaigns, battles, and sieges ; 
how they endured privations better than the common 
soldiers, and how they added other territory to Russia. 
He also learned Latin, German, and Dutch. He after- 
wards complained that his education was neglected, 
because he was allowed to do as he pleased. He chose 
his own companions, and as he did not like to be confined 
wathin the palace grounds, he roamed in the streets and 
often became acquainted with men whom he would not 
have met in the palace, Russians, Dutch, Sw4ss, English, 
and Germans. His usual attendants were Boris Galit- 
syne and other young nobles with whom he played at 
soldier. He pressed the palace servants into the ranks 
and had them drilled in European tactics. Peter took 
lessons in geometry and fortification ; he constructed 
small forts which were besieged and defended by the 
young players. Sometimes the game became earnest ; 
blows were given and received, when Peter took his 
share without a murmur, even when he was wounded as 
sometimes happened. 

At first Peter did not like the water ; no Russian does ; 
but he mastered his dislike. Once, when he saw a 
stranded English boat, he sent for a boatbuilder to make 
him a sailboat and to teach him how to manage it. He 



149 

took a great fancy to sailing, and often took his boat on 
the Yaousa, and afterwards on Lake Pereiaslaf, to the 
terror of his mother. Thus Peter grew up, healthy in 
body and strong of mind, until his ambitious half-sister 
Sophia began to think what would become of her when 
the boy should be czar. She had styled herself Autocrat 
of all the Russias and did not like the idea of surrender- 
ing the title. For some time she was appeased when 
her courtiers told her that the boy cared for nothing 
except to amuse himself. 

When he was sixteen years old, Peter asserted himself. 
Sophia had ordered a triumphal entry for Prince 
Galitsyne and the army of the Crimea, when Peter 
forbade her to leave the palace. She paid no attention 
to his orders, but headed the procession of the returned 
army. Peter saw that this meant war to the knife, and 
left for Preobajenskoe. 

As soon as she heard of this, Sophia determined to 
seize the throne. She intended to attack the palace, kill 
Peter's friends and arrest his mother, and after that to 
deal with the young czar as circumstances demanded. 
She sent for the commandant of the streltsi who agreed 
to sound the men. He told them that Sophia's life was 
in danger, and that she had fled to a convent. The latter 
part of the story was true, as she had in fact retreated to 
such a place, from which she sent letters to the streltsi to 
come to her rescue. The commandant failed to secure 
more than 500 men ; the other streltsi told him that there 
should be an investigation. 

Two of the streltsi went to Peter and reported to him 
what was going on, whereupon he moved to the famous 
Sto. of Russia — 10 



ISO 

Troitsa monastery. The Patriarch, foreign officers 
serving in the army, his playmates, and even a regiment 
of streltsi came to him to ofifer their services. Peter 
issued orders for the arrest of Sophia's favorite, the 
commandant of the mihtia. She begged the Patriarch 
to interfere but met with a refusal. The commandant 
under torture confessed the plot, and was beheaded. 
Sophia's other friends were arrested ; some were 
executed while others were sent to prison ; she herself 
was confined in the convent where she had found a 
retreat. Peter was now the czar, although he conducted 
the government in his own name and in that of his weak- 
minded brother Ivan. 

If Sophia had shocked the Russians by leaving the 
seclusion of the women's apartments, Peter's acts were 
likely to astonish them still more and to give offense. 
Rowing in a boat, instead of sitting in it surrounded by 
his grandees ; working like a carpenter, instead of merely 
giving his orders through a courtier, and fighting with 
foreigners and grooms, were acts so unlike to what a 
czar should do, that Peter made a host of enemies. Little 
did he care ! Xo sooner was he free to do as he pleased, 
than he rushed off to Archangel, the only port Russia 
could call her own, and there he saw salt water for the 
first time. He mingled freely with captains of the 
foreign merchant vessels and went out in their boats. 
On one occasion, he was out in a storm and came near 
being drowned ; but this did not prevent '* Skipper Peter 
Alexievitch," from putting out to sea again. Once he 
piloted three Dutch vessels. The young czar gave orders 
to construct a dockyard and to have boats built. 



151 

Peter longed for ports on an open sea, a sea that 
would not freeze in winter. There were three which 
Russia might reasonably hope to own some day, the 
Baltic, the Black, and the Caspian Sea. The Baltic 
belonged to Sweden, and Peter feared difficulties in that 
direction ; but the Black Sea belonged to the Turks, and 
Peter quite understood that a war w^th the infidels would 
be popular in Russia. He wished to visit Western 
Europe ; to see for himself the wonders of which he had 
heard foreigners speak ; but he made up his mind not to 
go until he could appear as a victorious general. 

Thus Peter made preparations for war with the Khan 
of the Crimea. He did not command his army ; w4iat he 
wanted, was to learn, and therefore he went as the gunner 
Peter Alexievitch. That did not prevent him from 
keeping a sharp eye on his generals. Chief-engineer 
Jansen received a sound whipping from him and deserted 
to the enemy. For this and other causes he was com- 
pelled to raise the siege of Azof and to fall back to 
Russia. His mother died in 1694. He- returned to Rus- 
sia in 1695, ^^*^ notwithstanding his defeat, he ordered 
a triumphal entry into JMoscow ; but he felt very sore. 
The following year, 1696, his half-brother Ivan died, and 
Peter was the sole Autocrat of all the Russias. 




(152) 



Peter the Great 



XVIII— PETER THE GREAT AND HIS REIGN 

FAR from being discouraged by his defeat, Peter was 
more than ever resolved to have a port on the 
Black Sea. He introduced reforms in the army, and 
while doing this, he ordered a fleet of boats to be built 
on the Don, and set 26,000 men to work on them. He 
also sent to Holland and other parts of Europe for 
officers and gunners, and superintended everything. It 
was at this time that he wrote to Moscow that, " following 
the command God gave Adam, he was earning his bread 
by the sweat of his brow. When he was ready, the army 
and the boats went down the Don ; Azof was blockaded 
by sea and by land, and forced to capitulate. When the 
news arrived at Moscow, there was general rejoicing, 
and even at Warsaw in Poland the people cheered for 
the czar. The army returned to Moscow under 
triumphal arches, the generals seated in magnificent 
sledges. A young officer, Peter Alexievitch, recently 
promoted to captain, was marching in the ranks. 

Peter wished to make of Azof a Russian town in the 
shortest time possible. He secured from the douma an 
order by which three thousand families were moved to 
that port, and streltsi were dispatched to garrison it. 
The czar wanted a naval force, and moved by his 

153 



154 

energy, the Patriarch, the prelates, and the monasteries 
offered to give one ship for every 5,000 serfs owned by 
them. This example was followed by nobles, officials, 
and merchants, and once more Peter sent to the west for 
competent men to help build them. At the same time 
fifty young nobles were dispatched to Venice to learn 
shipbuilding. 

When he was seventeen years old, Peter had married 
Eudoxia Lapoukine, w4iose relatives abhorred all that was 
new^ ; Peter's wife shared their sentiments, so that his 
home life was far from happy. He had a son by her, 
named Alexis ; after the fall of Azof, Peter secured a 
divorce, an act unheard of in Russia, where she remained 
czarina in the eyes of the people. Busy as he was, Peter 
left his son and heir in charge of his divorced wnfe, while 
he was making preparations for the long expected visit 
to the west of Europe. 

He determined that an embassy should be sent, and 
that it should be worthy of Russia. Accordingly he 
appointed the Swiss Lafort and two Russian generals 
" the great Ambassadors of the Czar." Among their 
retinue composed of two hundred and seventy persons, 
was a young man Peter Mikhailof, better known as 
Peter Alexievitch. AMien the embassy came to Riga, 
that young man was insulted by the governor. Peter 
said nothing, but made a note of it for future use. At 
Konigsberg, " Mr. Peter ]\Iikhailof " was appointed 
master of artillery by the Prussian Colonel Sternfeld. 
The progress of the embassy was too slow for Peter 
who had an object in view. He went ahead to Holland 
where he hired a room from a blacksmith at Zaandam, 



155 

bought a workman's suit, and went to work in a dockyard. 
He often visited Amsterdam where his good nature and 
passion to learn gained him the good-will of the people. 
Peter then crossed over to London where he spent three 
months. Competent men of every profession and trade 
were engaged by him everywhere. Returning to Holland, 
his ship was caught in a violent gale, which frightened 
even the sailors. Peter kept cool, and, smiling, asked 
them if they " had ever heard of a Czar of Russia who 
was drowned in the North Sea ? " 

Peter did not forget Russia's political interests. He 
talked with William of Orange, the great opponent of 
Louis XIV, and with other influential men, but he did 
not visit the court of France. After satisfying his 
curiosity, he went to Vienna where he intended to study 
strategy ; but his stay was cut short by bad news from 
home. 

Peter had met with a sullen, obstinate opposition in 
Russia. It was led by the priests who said, and perhaps 
believed, that Peter was the anti-Christ. It was a cause 
for complaint that Peter often wore clothes of a German 
fashion ; was the Russian costume not good enough for 
him? Again, why did he not devote his time to war, as 
the other czars done? He had made a bargain with 
British merchants to import tobacco into Russia; what 
did the Russians want with this "sacrilegious smell?" 
But the climax was that a Ccar of the Russias should 
leave Holy Russia to go among heretics and heathens. 
Geography was not studied in the czar's empire, and all 
nations on earth were thought to belong to either of the 
two classes. 



156 

The trouble began among the streltsi who had been 
sent to Azof. These citizen soldiers looked upon their 
destination at the other end of the empire as an exile,, — 
which it may have been. Two hundred deserted and 
made their way back to Moscow and their families ; they 
were promptly hunted down. When they returned to 
their regiments, they brought with them a secret proc- 
lamation from Sophia. " You suffer," she declared, 
'' but it will grow worse still. March on Moscow ! 
What are you waiting for? There is no news of the 
czar ! " There was a rumor that Peter was dead and 
that his son Alexis had been murdered by the boyards. 
Four regiments revolted and left the ranks. Generals 
Gordon and Schein went after them with the regular 
troops, and after overtaking the mutineers, tried to bring 
them to reason. In reply they stated their grievances 
and persisted in their determination not to return to 
duty. The government troops then fired and scattered 
the streltsi. A number of them were arrested, tortured, 
and executed. 

At this time Peter returned, furious at what had 
happened. He was determined to strike JIF the head of 
the opposition, the Russians who openly denounced in- 
novations. He ordered that the face must be shaved. 
This was hitting every adult Russian in a tender spot, 
because the shaving of the face was considered in the 
light of a blasphemy. He began to enforce his orders 
at his court, sometimes acting as a barber himself, when 
he was none too gentle. A number of gibbets erected 
on the Red Square, reminded the bearded noble that the 
choice lay between losing the beard or the head. The 



157 

Patriarch appealed to Peter, a holy eikon of the Virgin 
in his hand. " Why did you bring out the holy eikon? " 
asked the czar. " Withdraw and restore it to its place. 
Know that I venerate God and His mother as much as 
you do, but know also that it is my duty to protect the 
people and to punish the rebels." 

The gibbets did not stand as an idle threat. The 
Austrian Minister Korb was a witness of the executions, 
which he describes thus : " Five rebel heads had been 
sent into the dust by blows from an ax wielded by the 
noblest hand in Russia." Thus Peter did not hesitate 
to be his own executioner. It was like him to do his 
own work, regardless of what the people might think. A 
thousand men were sent to a gory grave, by the highest 
officers of the court ; the executions lasted a week'. The 
funeral of the executed was forbidden. Bodies were 
seen dangling from the walls of the kremlin for five 
months, and for the same length of time, the corpses 
of some of the streltsi hung from the bars of Sophia's 
prison, clutching the secret proclamation. Peter's 
divorced wafe had joined Sophia's party; the two ladies 
had their head shaved and were confined in convents. 
The streltsi were dissolved and replaced by regular 
troops. 

Peter then turned upon the Cossacks of the Don, who 
had shown greater independence than pleased him. 
Prince Dolgorouki to whom the task was confided of 
bringing them to order, wrote to the czar after he had 
destroyed the Cossack camp : " The chief rebels and 
traitors have been hung; of the others, one out of every 
ten ; and all these dead malefactors have been laid on 



158 

rafts, and turned into the river, to strike terror into the 
hearts of the Don people and to cause them to repent." 

Mazeppa, as we have seen, was at this time hetman of 
the Cossacks of Little Russia. In his youth he had been 
a page of John Casimir, king of Poland ; it was then 
that he had that terrible adventure which is connected 
indelibly with his name. After he was cut loose from 
the back of the unbroken horse that had carried him in 
the steppes, he entered among the Cossacks, and rose 
from the ranks by betraying every chief who helped 
him. Although it was Sophia who made him hetman, 
he was among the first to declare for Peter. His enemies, 
of whom he had many, accused him before the czar, but 
Peter admired him, and delivered his accusers up to 
him ; they did not live long after Mazeppa had them in 
his power. 

It was Mazeppa's scheme to establish an independent 
kingdom, he had the support of the Cossacks who did 
not care to work but preferred to be supported by the 
people. The industrious classes longed to get rid of 
this burden, and looked toward the czar to set them free. 
The tribute which Little Russia paid to Moscow was 
quite heavy, and when it was rumored that Peter was 
going to war with Sweden, Mazeppa thought this was 
an opportunity to carry out his scheme. He entered into 
negotiations with Stanislas Lecszinski whom Swedish in- 
fluence had placed upon the throne of Poland. Peter 
was informed of this in detail, but he did not credit it, be- 
headed one of his informants, and the others were tor- 
tured and sent to Siberia. 

The war broke out, Charles XII, the romantic king 



159 

of Sweden arrived in the neighborhood of Little Russia, 
and Peter called on ^Nlazeppa to join the Russian army 
with his Cossacks. He pretended to be dying, but when 
the two hostile armies were drawing close, he crossed 
the Desna with his most trusted Cossacks to join the 
Swedes. Peter's eyes were opened ; he gave orders to 
his general ]\Ienzikoff to take and sack ^lazeppa's capital. 
This was done and ]\Iazeppa's friends, who had remained 
behind, were executed. ^lazeppa himself reached the 
Swedish camp. He v^•as compelled to seek safety in 
Turkey, where he died miserably at Bender. His terri- 
tory ^\^s annexed to Russia, the Cossacks lost all their 
privileges, and 1,200 of them were set to work on the 
Ladoga canal. 

It was in 1700 that Peter, after concluding an alliance 
with Poland, determined to declare war against Sweden 
where young Charles XH had recently succeeded to the 
throne. Attacked at the same time by Russia, Poland, 
and Denmark, this young hero invaded the last-named 
country and compelled its king to conclude peace. After 
relieving Riga, Charles marched into Russia at the head 
of 8.500 men, and on the 30th of November defeated a 
Russian army of 63,000 men. This victory proved a 
misfortune, because it inspired the King of Sweden with 
contempt for Russian soldiers and made him careless, 
whereas Peter worked cheerfully and hard to profit from 
the lesson. \Miile Charles was absent in Poland, his 
army was twice defeated. 

Each of the two antagonists was worthy of the other's 
steel. Both were brave, but Charles was impetuous, 
whereas Peter acted upon cool judgment. The war 



i6o 



continued until 1709 when Charles found himself in Little 
Russici. far away from supplies and reenforcements, in a 
Russian winter which happened to be exceptionally 
severe. In the spring he laid siege to Pultowa. 
The czar arrived on the 15th of June with 60,000 
men; Charles had 29,000. On July 8, 1709, the 
battle of Pultowa was fought and Charles was defeated; 
he narrowly escaped being captured. With ]\Iazeppa 
and the Pole Poniatowski. he made his way across the 
Turkish frontier, and remained until 1713, in the territory 
of the Sultan, whom he fmall}- induced to declare war 
against Peter. This victory gave Peter the longed-for 
port on the Baltic, since Sweden was no longer in a 
condition to stop him. 

What induced Sultan Ahmed III to risk war with 
Russia, was the hope of regaining Azof. . Peter, on the 
other hand, hoped for an opportunity to capture Con- 
stantinople, the Czargrad of former times. He knew 
that he had the sympathy of the many Christians of the 
Greek Church, who were suffering under the yoke of the 
Turk. Trusting upon their support, Peter arrived on the 
bank of the Pruth with 38,000 exhausted soldiers. There 
he found himself surrounded by 200,000 Turks and 
Tartars. Peter gained a slight success, but not of suffi- 
cient importance to extricate or relieve him. Fearing an 
overwhelming calamity, Peter was prepared to make 
immense sacrifices in return for peace, and even to 
surrender Azof and the territory taken from Sweden, 
when his second wife Catherine had a happy thought. 
She collected all the money and jewels in the Russian 
camp, and sent them as a present to the Grand \'izier in 



i6i 



command of the enemy, asking at the same time, what 
terms he would make. They were found unexpectedly 
reasonable : the surrender of Azof, the razing of the 
Russian forts erected on Turkish territory, and that 
Charles XII should be free to return to Sweden. Peter 
accepted eagerly, much as he regretted the loss of Azof 
and the failure of his schemes. 

In 1713, a Russian fleet under Admiral Apraxine, with 
Peter serving under him as vice-admiral, captured several 
cities on the Baltic, and a Russian force entered north 
Germany. An alliance was formed against him and 
Peter decided to make an attempt at an alliance with 
France. In 17 18, just as peace was being concluded with 
Charles XII, the King of Sweden, died and war broke 
out anew, lasting until 1721, when, by the Peace of 
Nystad, Sweden surrendered to Russia Livonia, Esthonia, 
and part of Finland. Peter had his way : Russia had 
open ports. 

Peter was greatly pleased, and Russia rejoiced with 
him. The senate and Holy Synod conferred upon him 
the titles of '' the Great, the Father of his country, and 
Emperor of all the Russias." In 1722, Peter led an 
expedition to the Caspian Sea. He captured Baku and 
five other important towns. He died three years later, 
in 1725. 



XIX— PETER THE GREAT AND HIS TIME 

BEFORE judging Peter the Great, the time in which 
he lived, and the conditions which prevailed should 
receive careful consideration. Throughout Western 
Europe, in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, in par- 
liamentary England and republican Holland, the people, 
that is the masses, toiled early and late for the privilege of 
paying the taxes ; all immunities were reserved for the 
favored few composing the aristocracy. 

There was no education among the people, with the 
exception perhaps of Holland, then still a power of the 
first rank. . The principle was that the interests of the 
individual were unworthy of consideration by the side of 
those of the State. That was the case in France as well 
as in Russia. Peter inherited the idea of autocratic 
power, and his travels in Europe conveyed to him nothing 
to upset or contradict that idea. He cannot, therefore, 
be considered in the light of a tyrant. He acted, so far 
as he could know, within his prerogative, and did his 
duty as he saw it. 

Russia, with a thin and scattered population largely 
engaged in agriculture, felt no impulse toward^progress. 
The moujik lived as his father had lived. He never 
came in contact with people of a superior civilization who, 

162 



1 63 

by introducing new wants, -could make him discontented 
with his lot. Knowing no desire but to satisfy his 
physical craving, he bore the extremes of heat and cold 
with equal fortitude ; the soil and his labor provided for 
his subsistence. A life so sordid must either brutalize 
man or feed his imagination with the unknown and 
dreaded forces of nature ; superstition, deep and strong, 
became part of the peasant's existence. It is genera- 
tions before a traditional and deep-rooted belief can be 
eradicated. 

But Peter the Great gave as little thought to the 
moujik as did Louis XIV to the peasants of France. His 
influence was exerted upon the boyards, and among them 
the opposition was the stronger as they had been imbued 
with Asiatic ideas under the Tartar yoke. Here the great 
muscular strength of Peter rendered him great service. 
He did not hesitate to use a stick upon the highest 
officials any more than Ivan the Terrible had used his 
iron-tipped staff. Even Menzikofif was chastized in this 
manner. Frederick the Great of Prussia did the same 
afterwards. Nor was this method of punishing without 
its use. One day when Peter was looking over the 
accounts of one of his nobles, he proved to him that, 
whereas the boyard had been robbing the government, he 
in turn had been robbed by his steward. The czar took 
the noble by the collar and applied the stick with a 
muscular arm and great vigor. After he had punished 
him to his heart's content, he let him go, saying, " Now 
you had better go find your steward and settle accounts 
with him." 

It was Peter's purpose to make the Russians again 



164 

into Europeans. He rightly deemed it best to begin with 
externals, because they are the object lessons of changes 
The Russian boyard was attached to the long caftan or 
tunic adopted from the Tartars, but above all he was 
devoted to the hair on his face. The beard was doomed 
by the czar. He could not play barber to all his subjects, 
but he imposed a heavy tax upon unshaven faces. Owners 
of beards paid from thirty to one hundred rubles, and 
moujiks had to pay two pence for theirs every time they 
entered a city or town. 

The reform which had the most lasting influence upon 
Russia, was the abolition of the landed nobility as a 
separate class. They would be known as " fchin " or 
gentlemen, and any one w^ho entered the service of the 
government, regardless of birth, was at once entitled to 
be classed among the tchinovnik. From that time the 
terms gentleman and officer, became synonymous. Every 
service, civil, military, naval, or ecclesiastic, was divided 
into fourteen grades. The lowest grade in the civil ser- 
vice was held by the registrar of a college, the highest 
by the Chancellor of the Empire ; the cornet was at the 
bottom, the field marshal at the top in the army ; and the 
deacon in a church was fourteen degrees removed from 
the Patriarch, — but all were tchin. 

When, in 1700, the Patriarch Adrian died, the dignity 
was abolished by Peter who did not relish the idea of a 
rival power in the State. Instead he created the Holy 
Synod together with the office of Superintendent of the 
Patriarchal Throne. He gives his reasons in the ukase 
wherein the change is announced. " The simple people," 
this document reads, " are not quick to seize the distinc- 



i65 

tion between the spiritual and imperial power ; struck with 
the virtue and the splendor of the supreme pastor of the 
Church, they imagine that he is a second sovereign, equal 
and even superior in power to the Autocrat." 

The Holy Synod consisted of bishops and a Procura- 
tor-general who represented the czar and as such could 
veto any resolution. This official was often a general. 
Every bishop had to keep a school in his palace, and the 
sons of priests who refused to attend were taken as sol- 
diers. Autocrat though he was, Peter dared not confis- 
cate the property of the monasteries, but he forbade any 
person to enter a convent before his thirtieth year. The 
monks were ordered to work at some trade, or to teach 
in the schools and colleges. At this time, the Protestant 
and Catholic churches of the West tried to make con- 
verts, and the raskols were hostile to the national church. 
As a rule Peter did not favor persecution; so long as 
the church did not interfere with his authority, there was 
nothing to fear from him ; but upon the slightest suspicion 
his heavy hand was felt. Thus, in 1710, he suddenly 
ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits. He used to say : 
" God has given the czar power over the nations, but 
Christ alone has power over the conscience of man." 
This did not prevent him from exacting a double tax 
from the raskols in Moscow, nor from punishing cruelly 
any Russian converted to one of the western churches. 

The great mass of the people suffered severely by 
Peter's reforms. The peasants as tenants of the large 
landowners had enjoyed some liberty and were legally 
free men ; they were by him assigned to the soil, which 
they were not permitted to leave. Thus they, too, passed 
Sto, of Russia — 11 



1 66 



into serfdom. If the proprietor sold the estate, the rural 
population went with it. The owners paid a poll-tax for 
their serfs. These unfortunates could also be sold with- 
out the land, but the czar made a law that " If the sale 
cannot be abolished completely, serfs must be sold by 
families without separating husbands from wives, parents 
from children, and no longer like cattle, a thing unheard 
of in the whole world.'' 

The citizens of towns were divided into three classes ; 
to the first class belonged bankers, manufacturers, rich 
merchants, physicians, chemists, capitalists, jewelers, 
workers in metal, and artists ; storekeepers and master 
mechanics were in the second ; all other people belonged 
to the third. Foreigners could engage in business, acquire 
real estate ; but they could not depart from the country 
without paying to the government one tenth of all they 
possessed. 

Cities and towns were administered by burgomasters 
elected by the citizens ; this board selected its own presi- 
dent or mayor. If an important question arose, represent- 
atives of the first two classes were summoned for 
consultation. All the mayors of Russia were subject to 
a magistrate selected from the Council of St. Petersburg, 
and appointed by the czar. This official watched over 
the interests of commerce and agriculture, settled dis- 
putes between citizens and burgomasters, confirmed local 
elections, authorized executions when a death sentence 
v^^as pronounced by provincial authorities, and made 
reports to the tsar. 

The voiez'odes or governors of a province directed 
all the aitairs of their jurisdiction and disbursed the 



I 
I 



167 

revenues as they thought best. '* Help yourself first ! " 
was the unwritten law, and it was universally obeyed. 
Peter divided his empire into forty-three provinces, form- 
ing twelve governments each under a viceroy and deputy, 
who were assisted by a council elected by the nobles. 

The courts were crude and mediaeval, but not more so 
than in the west of Europe. Justice, such as it was, 
was administered by the General Police Inspector, and in 
large cities there was a police officer for every ten houses. 
Servants who failed to keep the house front clean were 
punished with the knout. Peter created the Bureau of 
Information, a court of secret police, and thus inaugurated 
the terrible spy system which still disgraces Russia. 

The douma was abolished, and in its stead Peter created 
a " Directory Senate," which could meet only in presence 
of the czar. It was originally composed of nine members, 
but it was afterwards increased and at last embraced the 
duties of the Grand Council, the High Finance Com- 
mittee, and the Supreme Court. A fair idea of the moral 
and mental condition of Russia's high aristocracy, may 
be had from a rule made by Peter, forbidding the 
Senators under severe penalties, while in session ' to cry 
out, to beat each other, or to call one another thieves." 

Peter's visits to the west, taught him the value of 
factories. He gave every possible inducement to foreign 
capital and skill to come to Russia, and patronized 
home industry wherever he could, as by purchasing the 
uniforms for army and navy from recently established 
mills. Some of his methods appear strange, as, for 
instance, when he ordered every town in Russia to send 
a stipulated number of shoemakers to ^Moscow, to learn 



1 68 



their trade. Those who continued to work in the old 
fashion, were severely punished. The czar would have 
met with greater success, if he had not been hampered by 
the cupidity of the officials, who found means to secure 
the lion's share of the profits. 

Peter discarded the old Slavonic alphabet and intro- 
duced the one used at present. St. Petersburg had four 
printing presses, Moscow two, and there were also some 
at Novgorod, Tchernigof, and other large places. The 
first newspaper in Russia, the St. Petersburg Gazette, 
was founded by him. He established, in 1724, the 
Academy of Sciences, in imitation of the institution of 
that name of Paris. 

St. Petersburg was founded in 1703. It was far from 
a promising site for a new capital, the dreary wastes, 
dark forests, and marshes where wild ducks and geese 
found a favorite feeding place. It was exposed to fre- 
quent floods, and piles were needed before a building 
could be erected. But when this autocrat had made up 
his mind, objections were brushed aside. Peter collected 
40,000 men, soldiers, Cossacks, Kalmucks, Tartars and 
such natives as could be found, and put them to work. 
At first he provided neither tools nor shelter, and food 
was often scarce. Thousands of workmen died ; — what 
did he care? Others were compelled to take their place. 
The fortress of St. Peter and Paul arose first ; the czar 
himself was watching the progress from a little wooden 
house on the right bank of the Neva. Men of means 
were forced to build stone houses in the new capital. 
Swedish prisoners and merchants from Novgorod were 
invited to move to St. Petersburg, and no excuse was 



169 

admitted. Goods could be brought only by boat, and no 
boat was allowed to land unless it carried a certain number 
of white stones to be used as building material. He 
erected churches, and ordered that he should be buried 
in the Church of St. Peter and Paul. 

Peter's domestic life, as we have seen, was not happy. 
After his divorce from his first wife, he married Catherine 
who, in 1702, had been made prisoner at Marienburg. 
It is not known where she was born, but she was probably 
a native of Livonia, and was a servant in the family of 
Pastor Gliick and engaged to be married to a Swedish 
dragoon. She became the property of Menzikoff who 
gave her to the czar. There was a secret marriage which 
was confirmed by a public ceremony in 171 2, in reward 
for her services at Pultowa. Peter also instituted the 
Order " For Love and Fidelity," in her honor. A German 
princess describes her thus : — " The czarina was small 
and clumsily made, very much tanned, and without grace 
or air of distinction. You had only to see her to know 
that she was lowborn. From her usual costume you 
would have taken her for a German comedian. Her dress 
had been bought at a secondhand shop ; it was very old- 
fashioned, and covered with silver and dirt. She had a 
dozen orders, and as many portraits of saints or relics, 
fastened all down her dress, in such a way that when she 
walked you would have thought by the jingling that a 
mule was passing." She could neither read nor write, 
but she was sharp, had natural wit, and obtained great 
influence over Peter. They had two sons, Peter and 
Paul, who died in childhood, and two daughters, Anne 
and Elizabeth. The former married the Duke of Holstein. 



170 

Alexis, the son by his first wife, was Peter's heir. He 
had grown to be a young man before Peter reaHzed that 
the result of all his efforts depended upon his successor, 
and the czar began to pay attention to his son's education 
when it was too late, when habits had been formed. The 
czarevitch had imbibed the prejudices of his mother; he 
was narrow-minded, lazy, weak, and obstinate, and 
associated with people to whom Old Russia was Holy 
Russia, who abhorred reforms of every kind. Peter 
sent him to travel in Germany, but the prince would learn 
nothing. His father warned him in very plain terms. 
" Disquiet for the future," he wrote to Alexis, " destroys 
the joy caused by my present successes. I see that you 
despise everything that can make you worthy to reign 
after me. What you call inability, I call rebellion, for you 
cannot excuse yourself on the ground of the weakness 
of your mind and the state of your health. We have 
struggled from obscurity through the toil of war, which 
has taught other nations to know and respect us, and yet 
you will not even hear of military exercises. If you do 
not alter your conduct, know that I shall deprive you of 
my succession. I have not spared, and I shall not spare, 
my own life for my country ; do you think that I shall 
spare yours? I would rather have a stranger who is 
worthy for my heir, than a good-for-nothing member of 
my own family." 

Alexis should have known that his father was in terrible 
earnest, yet he did not heed the warning. When Peter 
was traveling in Western Europe, his son fled to Vienna, 
where he thought that he should be safe. Finding that 
this was not so, he went to the Tyrol and afterwards to 



171 

Naples, but his father's agents traced him and one of 
them, Tolstoi, secured an interview in which he assured 
the prince of his father's pardon, and finally persuaded 
him to return to Moscow. As soon as he arrived there, 
he was arrested. The czar convoked the three Estates 
before whom he accused the czarevitch. Alexis was 
forced to sign his resignation of the Crown. When he 
was being examined, probably under torture, a wide- 
spread conspiracy was revealed. Peter learned also 
that his son had begged the Emperor of Austria for 
armed intervention, that he had negotiated with Sweden 
and that he had encouraged a mutiny of the army in 
Germany. It was shown that his divorced wife and 
several prelates were in the plot. Peter crushed his 
enemies. Most of the persons involved suffered a cruel 
death, and Alexis himself, after being punished with the 
knout, was sentenced to die. Two days later his death 
was announced. It appears that on that day, the heir to 
the throne was brought before a court composed of nine 
men of the highest rank in Russia and that he was beaten 
with a knout to secure further confessions, and that he 
expired under the torture. Those present were sworn to 
secrecy, and kept the oath. 

Peter, therefore, had no male heir. Alexis, however, 
had left a son Peter by Charlotte of Brunswick whom he 
married against his will. In 1723 the czar ordered 
Catherine to be crowned as Empress. He had established 
the right to select his successor but failed to do so, owing 
to his sudden death. 

The following description of Peter the Great at the 
age of forty, is given by a Frenchman : " He was a very 



172 

tall man, well made though rather thin, his face some- 
what round, with a broad forehead, beautiful eyebrows, 
a short nose, thick at the end ; his lips were rather thick, 
his skin was brown and ruddy. He had splendid eyes, 
large, black, piercing, and well-opened; his expression 
was dignified and gracious when he liked, but often wild 
and stern, and his eyes, and indeed his whole face, were 
distorted by an occasional twitch that was very un- 
pleasant. It lasted only a moment, and gave him a 
wandering and terrible look, when he was himself again. 
His air expressed intellect, thoughtfulness, and greatness, 
and had a certain grace about it. He wore a linen collar, 
a round wig, brown and unpowdered, which did not reach 
his shoulders ; a brown, tight-fitting coat with gold 
buttons, a vest, trousers, and stockings, and neither gloves 
nor cuffs ; the star of his order on his coat, and the ribbon 
underneath it ; his coat was often unbuttoned, his hat lay 
on the table, and was never on his head, even out of doors. 
In this simplicity, however shabby might be his carriage 
or scanty his suit, his natural greatness could not be 
mistaken." 



XX— THE SUCCESSORS OF PETER THE GREAT. 

PETER'S strong hand had stifled the opposition to his 
reforms, but with his death it reappeared. There 
were, therefore, two parties in Russia : the men who had 
assisted the dead czar, Menzikoff , Aproxine, Tolstoi, and 
others, such as the members of the secret Court who had 
witnessed the violent death of Peter's only son. They 
dreaded the succession of Peter's grandson, the boy who, 
although only twelve years old, might order an investi- 
gation of his father's death. These men held the power 
and decided that, since Catherine had been crowned as 
Empress, it was she who should succeed. Thus the form- 
er maid servant, not even a native Russian, became Em- 
press of all the Russias. There were some protests in 
favor of Peter's grandson, but they were disregarded. 

Menzikoff who was the cause of Catherine's rise, fan- 
cied himself all-powerful, and there was jealousy among 
Peter's associates. Menzikoff sent one of them, Tolstoi, 
to Siberia, but Catherine would not consent to the pun- 
ishment of the other friends of the late czar. She was 
honest in carrying out Peter's unfinished projects. He 
had planned the marriage of his daughter Anne to the 
Duke of Holstein : the wedding took place ; he intended 
to send an exploring expedition to Kamtschatka; she 

173 



174 

engaged the services of a Danish captain, Bering, who 
discovered the sea and strait named after him. The 
Academy of Sciences was opened in 1726. She, how- 
ever, changed the Senate into a Secret High Council, 
which met under the presidency of the empress. 

Catherine died in 1727, and on her deathbed appointed 
Peter's grandson, then fourteen years old, as her succes- 
sor. In case of his death, the throne would go to Anne, 
and next to Elizabeth. During his minority these two 
daughters assisted by the Duke of Holstein, Menzikoff, 
and some other high officers, would constitute a Board of 
Regents. 

Menzikoff had taken precautions. He had obtained 
her consent that the young heir, Peter H, should marry 
one of his daughters, a young lady two years older than 
the boy. He showed, in his letters to Peter, that he 
looked upon him as his son. He also intended his own 
son to marry the boy's sister Natalia. There was one 
member of Peter the Great's family who did not approve 
of Menzikoff's schemes, Elizabeth, the young czar's 
aunt, then seventeen years old. Not long after Cathe- 
rine's death, Menzikoff fell ill ; he was compelled to keep 
to his rooms, and in that time Elizabeth roused her 
nephew's suspicions. Peter left Menzikoff's palace and 
when Catherine's favorite tried to resume his authority, 
he was arrested and exiled to his estates. Soon after 
he was sent to Siberia, where he died two years later, in 
1729. 

The Dolgorouki family succeeded, but its head com- 
mitted the same mistakes, besides showing a tendency to 
undo the work of Peter the Great. The young czar was 



175 

growing weary of the Dolgorouki when, in January 1730, 
he caught cold and died after a brief illness. 

It was during his short reign that Prussia, Austria, 
and Russia, first seriously discussed the partition of Po- 
land. A treaty was signed between Prussia and Russia 
whereby the two powers agreed to select and support a 
candidate for the throne of that kingdom which was to 
illustrate the truth that " a kingdom divided against it- 
self cannot exist." 

Peter's death left Russia without a male heir. There 
were, as we have seen, two daughters from his marriage 
with Catherine. Anne, who had married the Duke of 
Holstein, had died in 1728, leaving a son also named 
Peter. Elizabeth, the other daughter, was in St. Peters- 
burg, quietly engaged in establishing a party of her own. 
There were, besides, two other parties having claims 
upon the throne. Ivan, the weak-minded half-brother of 
Peter the Great, had been married and had left two 
daughters, Anne, Duchess of Courland, and Catherine, 
Duchess of Mecklenburg. 

The decision rested with the Secret High Council. 
Dolgorouki's claim, that Peter II had made a secret will 
leaving the throne to his bride, was laughed to scorn. 
The members of the High Council saw an opportunity 
to secure most of the autocratic power for themselves, 
and resolved to offer the throne to Anne of Courland, 
provided that she subscribed to the following conditions : 
That the Secret High Council should always consist of 
eight members, all vacancies to be filled by themselves ; 
that she could make neither war nor peace, nor appoint 
an officer above the rank of colonel, without the consent 



1/6 

of the Council ; that she could not condemn a noble to 
death, nor confiscate his property, without a trial ; and 
that she could neither appoint a successor, nor marry 
again without the approval of the Council. She was also 
to sign an agreement whereby she would forfeit the crown 
'' in case of my ceasing to observe these engagements." 
The Council also decided upon moving the capital back 
to Moscow. 

This might have been the beginning of a more liberal 
government for Russia, since it diminished the power of 
the czar and the people would have benefited by the in- 
creased rights of the nobles, as was the case in England. 
It was the nobility who objected, from fear that the 
power might be absorbed in the families of the Council 
members. Anne of Courland accepted the conditions and 
came to Moscow. There she received letters from the 
enemies of the Council imploring her to disregard her 
promises. On the 25th of February, 1731, the Council 
was in session when an officer appeared summoning them 
before the czarina. Upon arrival in the apartment, they 
found about eight hundred persons presenting a petition 
that Anne might restore autocracy. She read it and 
seemed astonished : " What ! " she exclaimed, '' the con- 
ditions sent to me at Mittau were not the will of the peo- 
ple ? " There was a shout of " No ! no ! " " Then," she 
said, addressing the Council, " you have deceived me ! " 
Anne was a true daughter of the czars. She began by 
exiling the principal members of the Council to their es- 
tates ; when she saw that there was no opposition, they 
were sent to Siberia ; and when no one remonstrated, 
other members were condemned to a cruel death. 



177 

Anne was thirty-five years old when she was crowned 
as czarina. She had been in Germany so long that she 
preferred to surround herself with Germans who did 
serve her well, but they naturally aroused the jealousy 
and hatred of the Russian nobles. In 1733, Augustus II, 
King of Poland, died. Russia, Prussia, and France, 
each had a candidate. Austria and Russia favored Au- 
gustus III of Saxony, and Louis XV of France supported 
his father-in-law Stanislas Leszcinski. 

This candidate secretly proceeded to Warsaw, where 
he was elected by a vote of 60,000 against 4,000. A 
Russian army crossed the frontier, whereupon Stanislas 
withdrew to Dantzig and the Russians proclaimed Au- 
gustus III. The war spread and a Russian army of 20,- 
000 men advanced as far as Heidelberg in Baden. It 
ended in 1735, by the Peace of Vienna, but Russia be- 
came involved in a war with Turkey, as an ally of Aus- 
tria. 

In 1736, the Russians took Azof and ravaged the 
western Crimea. In the following year they laid waste 
its eastern part, and in 1739 they gained a great victory 
at Savoutchani. Austria was not anxious to have Rus- 
sia as a close neighbor, and arranged the Peace of Bel- 
grade. (1739.) Russia surrendered all the conquests, 
except a small tongue of land between the Dnieper and 
the Bug. Sweden threatened war, but it was averted. 
The following year, 1740, Anne died, leaving the throne 
to her infant son, Ivan of Brunswick. 

Anne Ivanovna introduced western luxury into Rus- 
sia. Prior to her arrival, fashions were unknown, and 
people used to wear their clothes until they were worn 



178 

out. Soon after restoring autocracy, she returned to St. 
Petersburg where she endeavored to estabUsh a court in 
imitation of that of France. She could compel her 
nobles to appear in the costume of the west, and, unless 
they were very wealthy, make them sacrifice estates and 
serfs to pay his increased expenses, but of the refinement 
which creates fashion, there was none. One of her 
guests, a procurator-general was so intoxicated at one 
of her receptions that he insulted one of Anne's most 
trusted advisers ; she was a witness, but only laughed 
heartily. 

The young nobles benefited by the German influence 
at Court, since they received a better education. A law 
was made requiring them to study from their seventh 
to their twentieth year, and to serve the government from 
that age until they were forty-five. Between the age 
of twelve and sixteen they were made to appear before 
an examining board, and any one failing to pass the 
second time in catechism, arithmetic, and geometry, was 
put into the navy. In the schools for young nobles, — 
the serfs received no instruction of anv kind, — the course 
of studies was enlarged after the German system. 

Anne's infant son, Ivan, was three months old, when 
he succeeded to the throne as Ivan VI. Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine, was twenty- 
eight years old ; tall and masculine, bright and bold, dar- 
ing on horseback as well as on the water, she had made a 
host of friends among the high ofiicials and the Guards. 
She found an able adviser in the French Minister at St. 
Petersburg who was anxious to destroy the influence of 
Germany. The Swedes went so far as to begin a war, 



179 

proclaiming the desire to deliver '' the glorious Russian 
nation " from the German yoke. Elizabeth decided that 
the time had come to act, when the regiments devoted to 
her were ordered to the frontier. In the night of Oc- 
tober 25, 1 741, she went with three friends to the bar- 
racks. " Boys," she said to the men, '' you know whose 
daughter I am?" " Matuska," (little mother), they re- 
plied, *' we are ready ; we will kill all of them." She 
said that she did not wish any blood to be shed, and 
added : '* I swear to die for you ; will yoit swear to die 
for me ? " They made the oath. When she returned to 
the palace, the regent, the infant czar, and the German 
members of the Government were arrested. Ivan VI 
was sent to a fortress near the Swedish frontier. The 
Germans were brought before a court and condemned to 
death, but Elizabeth commuted the sentence to exile. 
After this she went to Moscow, where she was crowned 
as czarina. Her next act was to send for her nephew, 
Peter, the son of her sister Anne of Holstein. He came 
and entered the Greek Church, when he was proclaimed 
as heir to the throne as Peter Feodorovitch. 

Sweden demanded the cession of the territory con- 
quered by Peter the Great, and, since Elizabeth refused, 
the war continued. But Sweden was no longer the 
kingdom of Charl'es XII ; the Russians were everywhere 
victorious, and by the Peace of Abo, in 1743, Sweden 
ceded South Finland and agreed to elect Elizabeth's ally, 
Adolphus of Holstein, as heir to the throne. 

In 1740 the Emperor of Germany died, after obtaining 
from the powers the consent to set aside the Salic Law of 
succession, in favor of his daughter. This law restricted 



i8o 



the right of succession to male heirs exclusively. In 
violation of the pledged word, several claimants appeared 
to contest the claim of his daughter Maria Theresa, and 
since almost every nation took sides, it was important to 
know what Russia would do. Elizabeth was undecided ; 
at least, she played with both sides until 1746, when she 
entered into an alliance with Maria Theresa, while Eng- 
land promised subsidies in money. It was, however, 
1748 before a Russian army of 30,000 men passed 
through Germany and took up a position on the Rhine. 
In the same year the war was ended by the Peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, without the Russians having been under fire. 

Elizabeth hated Frederick the Great of Prussia. She 
claimed that " The King of Prussia is certainly a bad 
prince who has no fear of God before his eyes ; he turns 
holy things into ridicule, and he never goes to church." 
The real reason was that Frederick had expressed his 
opinion about Elizabeth's private life, and she was not 
the woman to forgive his remarks. Then again, Fred- 
erick had an excellent army of 200,000 men ; Elizabeth's 
chancellor, on that account, called Prussia " the most 
dangerous of neighbors, whose power it was necessary to 
break." 

Russia, Austria, France, and Saxony, entered into a 
secret alliance against Prussia. Frederick found it out, 
and in 1756, began the famous Seven Years' War. The 
same year, 83,000 Russians under Apraxine crossed the 
frontier and seized East Prussia. A battle was fought ; 
the Russians were the victors, but Apraxine fell back 
across the Niemen. France and Austria suspected 
treachery ; Apraxine was arrested and the chancellor 



i8i 



was dismissed and exiled. Fermor was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief. 

The Russian army recrossed the frontier in 1758, took 
Konigsberg and bombarded Kiistrin on the Oder. Fred- 
erick with 32,000 men attacked the Russian army 89,000 
strong at Zorndorf. The Russians fought stubbornly 
but were defeated with a loss of 20,000 men. Fermor 
was recalled, and succeeded by Soltykof -who, in 1759, 
entered Frankfort on the Oder. Another battle was 
fought and Frederick was defeated by greatly superior 
numbers. He lost 8,000 men. Prussia was exhausted, 
but his enemies, too, began to feel the expense of the 
war. Elizabeth, however, was determined to humble the 
outspoken King when she died suddenly in 1761. She 
was succeeded by her nephew Peter Feodorovitch under 
the name of Peter III. 

Elizabeth, although careless in her mode of living, was 
a stout supporter of the Greek Church. In 1742, she 
agreed with the Holy Synod to suppress all other 
churches, as well as the Mosques or Mahomedan temples 
in the south. This caused a revolt of the Mahomedans. 
The Jews were also expelled in some parts of the empire. 
A fever of fanaticism broke out ; fifty-three raskolnik in 
Russia, and one hundred and seventy-two in Siberia, 
burned themselves to death. 

Count Ivan Schouvalof, one of Elizabeth's friends, 
believed in education and was given a free hand. He 
ordered that the priests and their children should attend 
school, on penalty of being whipped. He founded the 
University of Moscow, which has educated many learned 
Russians. To induce students to enter, he induced Eliza- 
Sto. of Russia — 12 



1 82 



beth to make a law that all students should be tchins of 
the tenth grade, and the professors hold the eighth grade. 
He sent young men abroad to study and established 
higher schools in every Government. Schouvalof was 
also the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts at St. 
Petersburg. 

That capital was growing ; its population was 74,000 
under Elizabeth. She built the Winter Palace and saw 
the plans for Tsarskoe Selo, the magnificent retreat of 
the Russian emperors. She reestablished the Senate, as 
organized by Peter the Great. 



XXI— RUSSIA UNDER CATHERINE II 
(THE GREAT) 

PETER III was thirty-four years old when he suc- 
ceeded to the throne. Although it was twenty 
years since his aunt Elizabeth sent for him from Holstein, 
he was more of a German than a Russian, and had an 
intense admiration for Frederick the Great. He at once 
reversed Russia's policy, ordered the commander-in- 
chief of the Russian armies to leave his Austrian allies, 
and made peace with the King of Prussia to whom he 
restored all Russia's conquests. Then he entered into an 
alliance with Frederick, which was the means of saving 
Prussia. 

Peter relieved the nobles of the duty of serving the 
state, for which they were so grateful that they proposed 
to erect his statue in gold ; he heard of it, and forbade 
their doing so. He abolished the Secret Court of Police, 
and showed great kindness to the raskols and permitted 
many of them to return from Siberia. A host of other 
exiles were recalled, and he thought of relieving the hard 
lot of the moujiks. 

For all this, he was unpopular and disliked. His dis- 
regard for old Russian customs and his mode of life gave 
deep offense. He was married to Sophia of Anhalt, who 

183 



i84 

had assumed the name of Catherine ; she was a woman of 
decided ability and strong character. Peter wanted a 
divorce. She heard of it and contrived a conspiracy 
among the high nobles and officers of the army and navy. 
Peter had no thought of danger, when he ordered the 
arrest of Passek, a young officer and favorite of Cath- 
erine. Thinking that the conspiracy had been discovered, 
she left her palace in the outskirts and came to St. Peters- 
burg where the three regiments of Foot Guards declared 
in her favor, and Peter's uncle was arrested by his own 
regiment of Horse Guards. When Catherine entered the 
Winter Palace, she was sure of the army and navy ; 
Cronstadt was seized by her supporters, and she issued 
a proclamation assuming the government. At the head 
of 20,000 men, she marched upon the Palace, where the 
czar, her husband, was residing. 

Peter fled to Cronstadt and sought the Admiral. " I 
am the czar," he said. " There is no longer a czar," was 
the reply, and all Peter could do was to return to his 
palace, where he abdicated " like a child being sent to 
sleep," as Frederick the Great expressed it. He then 
called on his wife, '' after which," Catherine tells us, " I 
sent the deposed emperor, under the command of Alexis 
Orlof accompanied by four officers and a detachment of 
gentle and reasonable men, to a place called Ropcha, 
fifteen miles from Peterhof, a secluded spot, but very 
pleasant." Four days later Peter III was dead. Cath- 
erine declared that he died of colic " with the blood 
flying to the brains." 

But one was living with just and strong claims to the 
throne. Ivan \T, the infant czar sent to prison by Eliza- 




(i85) 



Catharine II 



1 86 



beth in 1741, was now twenty-one years old. It was 
reported that he had lost his reason, which may have 
been true or false. Catherine disposed of him. She said : 
" It is my opinion that he should not be allowed to escape, 
so as to place him beyond the power of doing harm. It 
would be best to tonsure him (that is, to make a monk of 
him), and to transfer him to some monastery, neither 
too near nor too far oil ; it will suffice if it does not 
become a shrine." She did not desire that the people 
should make a martyr of a descendant of Peter the Great, 
while she, a foreign woman, was occupying the throne. 
Poor Ivan was murdered by his keepers two years later, 
when a lieutenant of the Guards was trying to effect his 
escape. After that, Catherine had no rival for the crown, 
except her son Paul, whom she disliked. 

At first it seemed as if Catherine would reverse her 
husband's policy with regard to Prussia. She gave or- 
ders to the army to leave the Prussian camp, but she did 
not command active hostilities ; since the parties felt the 
exhaustion of a seven years' struggle, peace negotiations 
were begun and concluded successfully. 

Catherine made Russia a party to the System of the 
North ; that is, she entered into an alliance with England, 
Prussia, and Denmark, as against France and Austria. 
Xearly all Europe was deeply interested in the severe 
illness of the King of Poland, because of the election 
which must follow his death. Unhappy Poland was 
bringing destruction upon itself. A lawless nobility kept 
the country in anarchy, and religious persecution, which 
had disappeared elsewhere, was still rampant. It was the 
gold distributed by interested powers, that controlled the 



i87 

vote of the Diet, and since it was merely a question of 
the highest bidder, Frederick the Great and Catherine 
came to an understanding. They decided to elect Stan- 
islas Poniatofski, a Polish noble. France and Austria 
supported the Prince of Saxony, who was also the choice 
of the Court party. After the death of Augustus III, the 
Diet assembled and elected the French and Austrian can- 
didate. Members of the Diet asked for Russian inter- 
vention and, supported by Catherine's army, Poniatofski 
was placed on the throne. 

Russia and Prussia were not satisfied ; they wanted 
part of the kingdom and the prevailing anarchy on their 
frontiers justified them. But Catherine made a pretext 
out of Poland's religious intolerance, — although the same 
existed in Russia. In 1765, Koninski, the Bishop of the 
Greek Church presented to the King a petition asking 
redress for a number of grievances which he enumerated. 
The King promised relief and submitted the matter to 
the Diet of 1766. The majority would not hear of any 
tolerance, although Russia had on the frontier an army 
of 80,000 men ready to invade Poland. The Diet of 
1767 showed the same foolish spirit, but it was broken 
when two of its members, both Catholic bishops, were 
arrested under Russian orders, and carried into Russian 
territory. The Diet did not appear to resent this vio- 
lation of a friendly territory but entered in 1768 into a 
treaty with Russia, in which it was agreed that Poland 
would make no change in its constitution without Rus- 
sia's consent. The Russian army was withdrawn from 
Warsaw, and a deputation from the Diet was sent to St. 
Petersburg to thank Catherine, 



1 88 



Two .hostile parties soon appeared in arms. The 
CathoHcs raised the banner " Pro reUgione et Ubertate ! " 
— as if they understood what Hberty meant ! France 
helped with money, and urged the Sultan of Turkey to 
declare war against Russia, so that Catherine would be 
compelled to withdraw her troops. Russia was inciting 
those of the Greek and Protestant religions to whom 
assistance was promised. 

In the winter of 1768, the Tartars of the Crimea, aided 
by the Turks, invaded Russia, and Catherine dispatched 
an army of 30,000 men, — all she could spare. In the fol- 
lowing year, the Russians attacked and defeated the 
enemy 100,000 strong at Khotin on the Dnieper, and in 
1770 the Khan of the Crimea met the same fate. In the 
same year at the battle of Kagul, 17,000 Russians defeated 
150,000 Turks commanded by the Grand Vizier. In the 
same year the Russians destroyed the Turkish fleet in the 
port of Chesme. In 1771, the Tartars of the Crimea were 
put to rout, and the Russians took Bessarabia and some 
forts on the Danube. They were, however, too late to 
take possession of the Dardanelles, which the Turks had 
put into a state of defense. 

Austria was becoming alarmed at Russia's victories, 
and lent a willing ear to the suggestion of Frederick the 
Great that it w^ould be safer to permit Russia to gain 
territory belonging to Poland, provided Austria and 
Prussia should receive their share. On February 17, 
1 77 1, a treaty was concluded between Russia and Prussia, 
and accepted by Austria in April, whereby Poland was 
deprived of a good part of its territory. Catherine 
secured White Russia with a population of 1,600,000; 



1 89 

Frederick the Great took West Prussia with 900,000 
inhabitants, and Austria received Western GalHcia and 
Red Russia with 2,500,000 people. This was the begin- 
ning of the end of Poland. 

The peace negotiations with Turkey were broken off, 
and war was resumed. Being busy elsewhere, Catherine 
could not prevent a coup d'etat in Sweden, which saved 
that country from the fate of Poland. Besides suffering 
from these constant wars, Russia was visited by the 
plague, which in July and August, 1771, daily carried off 
a thousand victims in Moscow alone. The Archbishop, 
an enlightened man, was put to death by a mob for order- 
ing the streets to be fumigated. Troops were necessary 
to restore order. 

The condition of the country was dreadful. Alexander 
Bibikof was sent to suppress a dangerous insurrection, 
he wrote to his wife after arriving on the spot, that the 
general discontent was frightful. It was for this reason 
that Catherine concluded peace with the sultan in 1774; 
besides an indemnity, she received Azof on the Don and 
all the strong places in the Crimea, and was recognized 
as the protector of the sultan's Christian subjects. In 
^77Sy she finally broke the power of the Cossacks. 

Through the mediation of France and Russia, a war 
between Prussia and Austria concerning the succession 
in Bavaria, was narrowly averted. During the American 
War of Independence, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Prus- 
sia, and Portugal, proclaimed armed neutrality, and Hol- 
land' declared war, because British warships caused 
endless trouble to vessels under neutral flags. This cele- 
brated act declared " that contraband goods " included 



190 

only arms and ammunition. Most countries agreed to 

this, with the exception of England. 

In 1775 Catherine annexed the Crimea, on the plea 
that anarchy prevailed. Turkey protested and threatened 
war but France meditated and the sultan recognized the 
annexation by the Treaty of Constantinople in 1783. 

In 1787, a remarkable secret agreement was signed 
between Russia and Austria. It is known as the Greek 
Project, and was nothing less than a scheme to divide 
Turkey- between the two powers. The plot as proposed 
by Russia, was to create an independent state under the 
name of Dacia, to embrace ^loldavia, Wallachia, and 
Bessarabia, with a prince belonging to the Greek Church 
at the head. Russia was to receive Otchakof, the shore 
between the Bug and the Dnieper, and some islands in 
the Archipelago, and Austria would annex the Turkish 
province adjoining its territory. If the Turk should be 
expelled from Europe, the old Byzantine Empire was to 
be reestablished, and the throne occupied by Catherine's 
grandson Constantine, " who would renounce all his 
claims to Russia, so that the two empires might never be 
united under the same scepter.*' Austria agreed on con- 
dition that she should also receive the A'enetian posses- 
sions in ^Moldavia, when A'enice would be indemnified by 
part of Greece. 

Soon after this the sultan declared war against Rus- 
sia. This took Catherine by surprise. Other enemies 
sprang up : the King of Prussia wanted Dantzig, the 
King of Sweden, South Finland. The latter invaded 
Russia and might have marched upon St. Petersburg, for 
all Catherine could collect was an armv of 12.000 men. 



191 

A mutiny in the camp of Giistavus III, compelled him to 
return to Stockholm, and the opportunity was lost. He 
defeated the Russians in the naval battle of Svenska 
Sund, but a second engagement was to the advantage of 
Russia. The French Revolution caused him to make 
peace, and to enter into an alliance with Russia against 
the French. 

In the south Russian arms were more fortunate. The 
Turks were defeated in 1789, and 1790, on which occa- 
sions a young general named Souvorof distinguished 
himself. Upon the death of Joseph II of Austria, his 
successor Leopold made peace with Turkey at Sistova. 
(1791.) It was the French revolution, which seriously 
alarmed every crowned head in Europe, and which 
induced Catherine to follow Leopold's example at Jassy, 
in January, 1792, Russia kept only Otchakof and the 
shore between the Bug and the Dniester. 

Poland, meanwhile, had made an earnest effort at 
reform. Thaddeus Kosciusko had returned from the 
United States, where he had fought for liberty and was 
trying to save his own country. Born in 1752, he entered 
a military school founded by the Czartoryskis at the age 
of twelve, and distinguished himself by attention to his 
studies and duties. His father was assassinated by exas- 
perated peasants, and he himself was scornfully ejected 
by a powerful noble whose daughter he was courting. 
Attracted by the struggle of a handful of colonists 
against powerful England, he went to America and 
served with distinction in the War of the Revolution. 
After seeing Great Britain humbled and a new republic 
established in the New World, he came back to Poland 



ig2 

and was soon among the foremost reformers, — a man In 
whom the patriotic Poles justly trusted. But traitors 
were found to accept Russian bribes, and for the second 
time Poland was despoiled. Russia annexed the eastern 
provinces with 3,000,000 inhabitants, and Prussia took 
Dantzig and Thorn. Austria was told that she might 
take from the French Republic as much as she wished, — 
or could. 

Manfully and indefatigably did Kosciusko labor to 
stem the tide of his country's ruin. His patriotism 
aroused even that of the poor, down-trodden serfs, who 
had no interests to defend, yet stood by him in battle 
when the nobles on horseback fled, and wrenched a vic- 
tory out of defeat. Well might Kosciusko thereafter 
dress in the garb of a peasant ; a gentleman's dress was a 
badge of dishonor. 

It was in 1794, that this battle took place and gave 
the signal, too, for an effort to restore Poland. But Aus- 
tria, Prussia, and Russia combined, and Poland was lost. 
Heroic children were made to pay for the sins of their 
fathers. Poland expired in 1795. Prussia took Eastern 
Poland, including Warsaw ; Austria annexed Cracow, 
Sandomir, Lublin, and Selm, and Russia took what 
remained. The patriots dispersed ; most of them took 
service with the French, hoping for an opportunity to 
revive their country. 

Catherine took especial pains to prevent the ideas, 
which alone made the French revolution possible, from 
entering into Russia. There was no occasion for this 
prudence. The great majority of the Russian people did 
not know of any world beyond Russia; most of them 



^93 

knew nothing beyond the narrow horizon of their own 
village, and could neither read nor write. The harrow- 
ing tales brought by the fugitive French nobles did not 
tend toward inspiring the Russian aristocracy with sym- 
pathy for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. 

Satisfied that Russia was beyond the sphere of what 
she regarded as pernicious doctrines, Catherine deter- 
mined to make the greatest possible profit out of the dis- 
turbed condition of Europe. She never ceased to incite 
Prussia and Austria against the French Republic, but 
carefully refrained from spending a dollar or risking a 
man. She pleaded first her war with Turkey, and after- 
wards the Polish insurrection. She said to Osterman, 
one of her ministers: "Am I wrong? For reasons that 
I cannot give to the Courts of Berlin and \^ienna, I wish 
to involve them in these affairs, so that I may have my 
hands free. ]\Iany of my enterprises are still unfinished, 
and they must be so occupied as to leave me unfettered." 

While Europe was engaged in the hopeless task of 
establishing and maintaining the divine rights of kings, 
Catherine began a war with Persia. One of her " unfin- 
ished enterprises " was interrupted by her death in 
November, 1796, at the age of sixty-seven. She left the 
throne to her son Paul. 



XXII— RUSSIA DURING THE WARS OF 
NAPOLEON 

PAUL was forty-two years old when he succeeded to 
the throne. His youth and early manhood had 
been far from pleasant. His mother had never shown 
any love for him, and Paul had not forgotten his father's 
sudden death. He was held in absolute submission, and 
was not permitted to share in the government ; he had not 
even a voice in the education of his children. The cour- 
tiers, in order to please his mother, showed him scant 
courtes}^ ; this is probably the reason of his sensitiveness 
after he came to the throne. He ordered men and women 
to kneel down in the street when he was passing, and 
those who drove in carriages had to halt. It is also 
shown in this remark, " Know that the only person of 
consideration in Russia is the person whom I address, 
at the moment that I am addressing him." It was justice, 
but it reflected upon his mother's memory when, im- 
mediately after her death, Paul ordered his father's 
remains to be exhumed, to be buried at the same time 
and with the same pomp as those of Catherine. 

Such a man could have no sympathy with the French 
revolution which was shaking the foundations of Old 
Europe. He forbade the use of any word that might 

194 



195 

be construed to refer to it. He ordered the army 
to adopt the Russian uniform, including the powdered 
pigtails of that time. Souvorof fell in disgrace because 
he was reported to have said : " There is powder and 
powder. Shoe buckles are not gun carriages, nor pig- 
tails bayonets ; we are not Prussians but Russians." 

Paul pardoned a number of exiled Poles, and brought 
the last king, Stanislas Poniatofski, to St. Petersburg, 
He discontinued the war with Persia, and instructed his 
ambassadors to announce that since Russia, and Russia 
alone, had been at war since 1756, " the humanity of the 
Emperor did not allow him to refuse his beloved subjects 
the peace for which they sighed." 

Nevertheless, Russia was drawn into Napoleon's gigan- 
tic wars. Uneasy at the plans of the French Republic, 
Paul entered into an alliance with England, Austria, 
Naples, and Turkey. He furnished troops for England's 
descent upon Holland, and recalled Souvorof to take 
command of the Russian forces cooperating with those 
of Austria. The British expedition proved a failure, but 
Souvorof's strategy and indomitable courage shed glory 
upon the Russian army. 

When Souvorof arrived at Vienna, he took command 
of the allied forces consisting of 90,000 men. On April 
28, 1799, he surprised Moreau at Cassano and took 3,000 
prisoners. He entered Milan, and soon after laid siege 
to Mantua, Alessandria, and Turin. On June 17, Sou- 
vorof was attacked on the Trebia ; the battle lasted three 
days, leaving the victory to the Russians. After the 
victory at Novi, on the 15th of August, the French were 
forced to evacuate Italy. 



196 

Souvorof had divided his force of 80,000 Russians 
into two corps, one to operate in Switzerland, the other 
under his own command, to conduct the campaign in 
Italy. His great success brought upon him the envy of 
the Austrian generals, by whom his movements were con- 
stantly hampered. He therefore resolved to effect a 
junction with the forces in Switzerland, who, on the 
26th of September, had been defeated at Zurich with a 
loss of 6,000 men. Souvorof did not know this. He 
reached the St. Gothard on the 21st and crossed it under 
unheard-of difficulties. " In this kingdom of terrors," 
he writes to Paul, " abysses open beside us at every step, 
like tombs awaiting our arrival. Xights spent among the 
clouds, thunder that never ceases, rain, fog, the noise 
of cataracts, the breaking of avalanches, enormous masses 
of rocks and ice which fall from the heights, torrents 
which sometimes carry men and horses down the preci- 
pices, the St. Gothard, that colossus who sees the mists 
pass under him, — we have surmounted all, and in these 
inaccessible spots the enemy has been forced to give way 
before us. Words fail to describe the horrors we have 
seen, and in the midst of which Providence has preserved 
us.'' '■ The Russian, inhabitant of the plain, was awe- 
struck by the grandeur of this mountain scenery," 

Souvorof brushed the French out of his way until, on 
the 26th, he arrived at Altdorf with the loss of only 2,000 
men. Here he received information of the defeat at 
Ziirich, and saw that he was surrounded on all sides by 
superior forces. His retreat showed the highest military 
skill, as well as the man's indomitable energy. Over un- 
trodden mountains, and snow at one place five feet deep, 



197 

he guided the remains of his army to a lower altitude, and 
went into winter quarters between, the Her and the Lech. 

Souvorof complained bitterly to the czar of the 
Austrian generals, who had given him ample reason. 
At about this time Napoleon had returned from his fruit- 
less campaign in Egypt, and at Marengo defeated the 
Austrians, whereby the results of Souvorof's campaign 
were lost. Paul was angry at Austria and Great Britain. 
Napoleon, shrewdly guessed the czar's feelings, released 
the Russian prisoners, after equipping them anew. Paul 
satisfied that Napoleon was an enemy of republican in- 
stitutions, conceived an intense admiration for his military 
genius, and came to an understanding with him to over- 
throw British rule in India. The czar at once commenced 
to prepare its execution. Two armies were formed ; one 
v/as to march on the Upper Indus by way of Khiva 
and Bokhara, while the Cossacks under their hetman 
Denisof would go by Orenburg. He was confident that 
the gigantic task could be accomplished, and sent daily 
instructions to the hetman. 

Napoleon had a far better idea of the difficulties, but 
he did not consider the expedition as hopeless. But even 
if it failed, he would be the winner, because England 
would be compelled to send most of her navy to India, 
while Russia would be too fully occupied, to interfere 
with his projects in Europe. The Cossacks started on 
their long journey, by crossing the Volga on the floating 
ice when, on the 24th of March, 1801, Paul was assassi- 
nated in his palace. 

There was no doubt as to the guilty men, but Paul's son, 
Alexander, who succeeded him, did not order an investi- 
Sto. of Russia — 13 



198 

gation. Pahlen, Panine, Zoubof, and others, known as 
the " men of the 24th of March," were removed from 
office, but that was their only punishment. Paul's mother 
had alienated her grandchildren from the father, and 
Alexander always showed greater affection for Catherine 
than for Paul. The greatest sufferer was Napoleon, 
who saw his grand schemes go up in smoke. Alexander 
reversed his father's policy, both at home and abroad. He 
came to an understanding with England. Napoleon tried 
earnestly to secure the new czar's friendship. He 
wanted a free hand in Europe and in return offered the 
same privilege in Asia, but Alexander mistrusted the 
First Consul. The murder of the Duke of Enghien, who, 
by Napoleon's order, was kidnaped in a neutral terri- 
tory and shot, — still further alienated the czar. 

After Napoleon's coronation as emperor, Alexander 
entered into an alliance with England, whereby he would 
receive six million dollars for every 100,000 men Russia 
placed in the field. The Emperor of Austria and the 
King of Prussia joined, but the Austrians, whose generals 
seemed unable to learn by experience, were defeated 
before the Russian army could reach the Tyrol. Once 
again the Russians covered themselves with glory by 
Koutouzof 's masterly retreat to the north, and Bagration's 
heroic self-sacrifice. At Olmutz, in the presence of Alex- 
ander, the Russo-Austrian army, 80,000 strong, was 
attacked by Napoleon with 70,000 men. The Austrians 
had induced the czar to adopt their plan of battle, and it 
met with the usual result. Alexander escaped, escorted 
by his physician, two Cossacks, and a company of the 
Guards. (Dec. 2., 1805.) Twenty-four days later Alex- 



199 

ander concluded peace with France by the Treaty of 
Presburg. 

The growing power of Napoleon induced Alexander 
to enter into a new coalition with England, Prussia, and 
Sweden. Russia bore the brunt of the war, after Prussia 
had been rendered harmless after the battles of Jena and 
Auerstadt. The Russians withdrew from Prussian 
Poland ; they suddenly left their winter quarters and 
attacked the French. On the 8th of February, one of the 
bloodiest battles was fought at Eylau ; the French claimed 
the victory, but it was barren of results. 

Napoleon dreaded Russia. He persuaded the Sultan of 
Turkey and the Shah of Persia to declare war, so as to 
occupy Alexander elsewhere. The czar, however, was 
loyal to his allies until, on the 14th of June, his army 
was almost annihilated at Friedland. This loss com- 
pelled him to enter into negotiations. On June 25, 1807, 
the two emperors met on a raft at Tilsit. Napoleon was 
prepared to do almost anything that would induce Alex- 
ander to cease interfering in Europe. An offensive-defen- 
sive alliance was concluded, whereby Napoleon agreed 
not to oppose the expulsion of the Turk or Russia's 
conquest of Constantinople. The czar meant to carry 
out the treaty in letter and in spirit, but he soon saw that 
Napoleon's ambition was limitless, and that he was play- 
ing with his ally. This was evident by the proposed parti- 
tion of Turkey : nothing came of it. Still he accepted 
Napoleon's invitation to a conference at Erfurt, where he 
was received by the French Emperor amid a court com- 
posed of sovereigns and princes. A convention was 
signed on the 12th of October, 1808, whereby Alexander 



200 



promised Xapoleon a free hand, in return for the annexa- 
tion by Russia of Finland and the Turkish provinces on 
the Danube. 

This led to a war with Great Britain, Sweden, and 
Austria, not including Turkey and Persia. Russia 
acquired Finland, when Alexander, after convoking the 
Diet, guaranteed its constitution, privileges, and universitv. 
In 1809, war again broke out between Austria and France. 
By the terms of the alliance,, Russia had agreed to furnish 
troops, but they showed that they did not relish fighting 
with the French. There were two engagements ; in one 
of these, the casualties were one Russian killed and two 
wounded. By an oversight of Xapoleon the Poles serving 
under him were to cooperate with the Russians, and, 
far from doing so, they often came to blows. The Russian 
general constantly sent complaints to the czar. Xapoleon 
made a great effort to appease Alexander by assigning to 
Russia Eastern Gallicia with a population of 400.000. 
Alexander declined to be represented in the peace negotia- 
tions at Menna. X^'apoleon's creation of the Grand Duke- 
dom of AA'arsaw was a constant menace to Russia. 

]\Ieanwhile the Russians were imiformly victorious in 
Turkey ; the czar concluded peace only when it was 
evident that war with France was unavoidable, and that 
Russia would need every man. It was on this account 
that he gave easy terms to the hard-pressed Sultan. 
Russia annexed Bessarabia, part of Roumania, Ismail, 
and Kilia on the Lower Danube. 

The time for the momentous struggle had arrived. 
X'apoleon, the master of Continental Europe, thought that 
he was more than a match for serf-ridden Russia. He 



201 



reckoned upon the echo which the words Hberty, equality, 
and fraternity, would awaken in the hearts of the moujik, 
and forgot that they were abstract ideas which to the serf, 
struggling for enough black bread to allay the cravings 
of hunger, were so many empty sounds. He tried to 
arouse Europe's suspicions of Russia's designs, not think- 
ing that any yoke, even that of the Tartars, would be a 
welcome relief to nations mourning for the slaughter of 
their sons. 

Napoleon left Paris for Dresden on the 9th of ^lay, 
1812 ; on the first of June an army of 678,000 men, includ- 
ing 60,000 Poles, stood ready to invade Russia. Alex- 
ander had only 150,000 men under Bagration and 
Barclay de Tolly, 90,000 posted on the Niem£n, and 
60,000 on the Mstula ; but he issued a proclamation 
announcing a Holy War. " Rise all of you ! '' he urged, 
" With the Cross in vour hearts and arms in vour hands, 
no human force can prevail against you ! " 

Napoleon advanced clutching shadows. After his army 
left Wilna, leaving dead desolation in its wake, the time 
soon came when retreat was no longer possible. Russian 
patriotism clamored for battle and Russian prudence had 
to give way to it. All of Koutouzof's remarkable in- 
fluence was required to restrain his men under the retreat 
which foretold victory, because every step forward sealed 
Napoleon's doom. The Corsican knew it but, with the 
superstition born in him, trusted to his star. Finally 
he drew near Moscow, the Holy City, where Count 
Rostopchine, the governor, was preparing the grand 
climax of the drama, while pacifying Russian patriotism 
by a series of hardy falsehoods. " I have resolved,'' he 



202 



explained, " at every disagreeable piece of news to raise 
doubts as to its truth ; by this means, I shall weaken the 
first impression, and before there is time to verify it, 
others will come which will require investigation." The 
people implicitly believed his most daring inventions. 
When he evacuated Moscow, he ordered all prisons to be 
opened, and the guns in the arsenal to be distributed 
among the people ; he also had the pumps removed and 
finally gave instructions to set fire to the stores of vodka 
and the boats loaded with alcohol. 

Napoleon arrived at the Kremlin on the 14th of 
September. Short as was his sojourn, it was with diffi- 
culty that he escaped through the flames and found refuge 
in a park. \Miy did he waste thirty-five days in the 
charred capital ? Was it belief in his star, or was it 
despair at the ruin of his prospects? On the 13th of 
October, the remnant of the Grand Army started on its 
long journey over the desert it had left behind, because 
all other roads were closed to it. The retreat has been 
described by many writers; but what pen shall do justice 
to the suffering caused by the unusually severe winter, 
the snow, the ice, the hunger, and the thirst? And how 
many hearts were rent, when the news came of the dead, 
the wounded, and the missing? Napoleon's campaign in 
Russia was the most impressive sermon against war, but 
it fell upon heedless ears. 

After the Battle of the Berezina, Napoleon left the 
army and hurried home. All his thoughts were on the 
effect of the disastrous defeat. — not upon the hundred 
thousand desolate homes, but upon his own fortunes. He 
arrived in Paris where he gathered 450,000 men, many of 



203 

them mere youths, to support him with their blood. But 
Europe was weary of slaughter. Kings might tremble 
for their crowns, it was the people, aroused to frenzy, 
that impelled them to action. On Napoleon's heels, 
besides, there was a bloodhound whom nobler instincts 
than mere self-preservation inspired to ceaseless pursuit. 
Alexander I, at this time, earned and deserved the glorious 
surname of The Well-beloved. Not a thought of self- 
glory or personal aggrandizement sullied the relentless 
chase. Emperors and kings dreading the awakened 
conscience of the people would have made peace, and 
they could have done so with security for themselves, 
but Alexander said, '* No ! " Under fire at the four days' 
battle of Leipzig, he personally directed reenforcements 
where they were required. And when, at last, the 
host of invaders stepped on the soil whose people during 
twenty years had committed outrages in almost every 
known country of Europe, they were noble words which 
the Autocrat addressed to his troops whom he had 
brought so far away from home. '* By invading our 
empire," he says, " the enemy has done us much harm, 
and has therefore been subjected to a terrible chastise- 
ment. The anger of God has overthrown him. Do not 
let us imitate him. The merciful God does not love 
cruel and inhuman men. Let us forget the evil he has 
wrought : let us carry to our foes, not vengeance and 
hate, but friendship, and a hand extended in peace." 

These were not mere words ; Alexander the \\ ell- 
beloved was sincere. But it was he who refused to 
receive Napoleon's envoy at Freiburg, and it was he 
who, when Napoleon, fighting like a tiger at bay, was 



204 

defeating the separated armies, so that the British envoy 
urged to come to terms with him, answered, " It would 
not be a peace but a truce. I cannot come four hundred 
leagues to your assistance every day. Xo peace, so long 
as Xapoleon is on the throne ! " By his direction the 
united armies rolled like an avalanche upon Paris, — and 
Xapoleon gave up the struggle by abdicating. 

Again it was Alexander the \A>ll-beloved who inter- 
vened when other powers would have overwhelmed the 
fallen colossus. It was Alexander who procured for his 
enemy the sovereignty of the island of Elba, and com- 
missioned Count Schouvalof to escort him. '' I confide 
to you a great mission;" he said; "you will answer 
to me with your head for a single hair w^hich falls from 
the head of Xapoleon." 

At the Congress of A'ienna assembled the statesmen 
to dispose of nations and peoples, as their own ambition 
prompted. Alexander desired to unite Poland to his 
crown, but separate from Russia ; but was opposed by 
Austria, Great Britain, and France, who entered into 
a secret alliance against him. Had X'apoleon waited two 
hundred davs instead of half that time, who knows that 
he might not yet have been the arbiter of Europe? His 
descent united all factions, and Alexander declared that 
he would pursue X'apoleon " down to his last man and his 
last ruble." 

Once again armies were set in motion, and once again 
Xapoleon resorted to his well-known tactics of destroying 
his enemies one by one. He failed at Waterloo. (June 
17, 181 5.) Again the allies re-entered Paris, the Prus- 
sians first but closely followed by the czar and his army. 



205 

" Justice, but no revenge ! " proclaimed Alexander when 
Bliicher would have followed Napoleon's example of 
robbing a country of its works of art. The czar stood 
the friend of France when Prussia demanded a frontier 
which would render her safe from French invasion ; but 
he said frankly that he " wished to allow some danger 
to exist on that side, so that Germany, having need of 
Russia, might remain dependent." He was in favor of 
allowing the French to select their own government, but 
was overruled. At last the allies came to an understand- 
ing, and Poland was joined to the Russian Crown. 

The Polish soldiers who had fought so bravely under 
Napoleon, placed themselves at the czar's service, hoping 
and trusting that their country would revive under a 
Russian king. Alexander's promises at Vienna had 
been vague, but recent events had made a deep impres- 
sion upon him. In this frame of mind, he directed that 
Poland be restored. This was announced on the 2ist of 
June, at Warsaw amid the roar of cannon. Constantine, 
Alexander's brother, was made King, and a legislative 
body, composed of a senate and house of representatives, 
was formed under a constitution which also guaranteed 
the freedom of the press. 

Thus Alexander returned to Russia. Soon after that 
he gave evidence that strong emotions were required to 
subdue the inborn prejudice in favor of autocracy. Rus- 
sia, of necessity, had acquired an overwhelming influence 
in Europe. This showed at the several Congresses, at 
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, at Carlsbad in 1819, at Troppau 
in 1820, and at Verona in 1822. The crowned heads of 
Europe appeared unable to comprehend that the French 



206 



revolution, with its orgies of blood and tears, had pro- 
duced an impassable abyss between the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries. They wished to return to the con- 
ditions prevailing before the revolution, which caused the 
success of that upheaval ; but the people, the masses, had 
quaffed of the cup of liberty, and the taste lingered. The 
Holy Alliance with its unholy aims might ordain what it 
pleased, the people obstinately refused to resume the place 
of beasts of burden for the benefit of the State. Thus a 
spirit of unrest was perceptible, and when Alexander 
learned that his '' I, the czar, will it! " was not able to 
restore quiet, he joined the other crowned heads in their 
struggle against more liberal ideas. From that time his 
conduct changed. 

There was evidence of this in the events occuring in 
the south. The majority of the inhabitants of the Balkan 
provinces of Turkey belonged to the Greek Church, and 
looked to Alexander for relief from the oppressive 
]\Iahomedan yoke. The Servians took up arms, the people 
of Greece did the same. On Easter dav, 1821, the 
Patriarch of the Greek Church at Constantinople was 
seized at the altar, and hung in his vestment at the door 
of the church. Three metropolitans and eight bishops 
were also murdered. The news caused deep indignation 
in Russia, but Alexander moved not. He believed in the 
theory that no people should be encouraged in rising 
against its ordained masters. In Russia all liberal ideas 
were rigidly suppressed. 

In 1825, Alexander left St. Petersburg for the south 
where he intended to spend some time. He was full of 
gloomy forebodings and gave further evidence of an 



207 

unsound mind by having a mass for the dead sung in his 
presence in broad dayHght. While in the Crimea he was 
heard to repeat : " They may say what they like of me, 
but I have lived and will die a republican." He died on 
the 19th of November, 1825, while on his journey. 

He left no sons. His brother Constantine had re- 
nounced the crown when he became King of Poland, 
and in 1823, Alexander had made his next brother 
Nicholas his successor. Alexander's reign marked a 
new era for Russia inasmuch as it was brought into 
closer contact with Europe, and promised to change in 
thought and impulse, from an Asiatic into a European 
nation. The necessity of securing the help of the masses 
against Napoleon's invasion created newspapers, and 
writers of unusual ability expressed their patriotic 
thoughts in prose and poetry. In 1814, the Imperial 
Library was opened to the public at St. Petersburg. It 
contained at that time 242,000 volumes, and about 10,000 
manuscripts. 

In 1803, Captains Krusenstern and Lisianski made the 
first Russian voyage around the world in the Nadejda 
(the Hope), and the Neva. It was on this occasion that 
Russia entered into relations with the United States. 



XXIII— AN EVENTFUL PERIOD 

ALEXANDER'S will came as a surprise upon 
Nicholas, but Constantine was loyal to his promise 
and after a brief but generous contest, Nicholas was 
crowned at ^loscow. Twenty-three days had elapsed 
since Alexander's death, long enough to show that the 
spirit of unrest had penetrated into Russia. On the 26th 
of December there were some disturbances at Moscow, 
but they were suppressed without great trouble. The 
secret police hunted down the leaders, many of whom 
were known in art or literature, but they suffered death. 
Nicholas, a man of colossal stature, commanding appear- 
ance, iron will, passion for a military life, of simple and 
correct habits, was a true champion of the right divine 
of kings. He had neither sympathy nor patience with 
any movement tending toward greater liberty for the 
people. Nevertheless Nicholas was much more popular 
than Alexander had been, because he was the type of the 
Russian czars, who had increased Russia's power and 
territory. 

Not many days after his coronation, Nicholas became 
involved in a quarrel with the Shah of Persia. In vain 
did the shah call upon Great Britain for help ; the Per- 
sians were twice defeated in 1826, and the Russians were 

208 



2og 

on the road to Teheran when the shah preferred to save 
his capital by ceding two provinces, and paying a heavy 
indemnity in 1828. The following year, the Russian 
Minister at Teheran was murdered, but Persia escaped 
with a humble apology. 

Turkey, too, was made to feel Nicholas' heavy hand ; 
urged by other powers the sultan submitted to the loss 
of territory in Asia, which had been in dispute, and per- 
mitted the free passage of Russian vessels between the 
Black Sea and the Mediterranean. (Convention of 
Akkerman, Oct. 8, 1826.) The czar, after this, took up 
the Greek question, and entered into an agreement with 
England and France. In vain did the sultan offer the 
plea which had been successful with Alexander, that the 
Greeks *' violated the passive obedience owed by subjects 
to their legitimate sovereigns." Nicholas wanted Turkey 
for himself, and proposed to leave no stone unturned to 
secure possession of Constantinople. 

After the battle of Navarino, on the 20th of October, 
1827, where the allied forces destroyed the Turkish fleet. 
England withdrew, suspicious of Nicholas' schemes ; but 
France and Russia continued the war until by the Peace 
of Adrianople, the sultan recognized the independence of 
Greece, — and ceded to Russia four fortresses in Asia 
and the islands in the delta of the Danube. Russia was 
thus in possession of the whole southern slope of the 
Caucasus, besides holding part of its northern front. 
The czar began war upon the tribes dwelling in the 
mountains, but found that he had engaged in a very diffi- 
cult enterprise. A soldier-priest named Schamyl defied 
the power of Russia for a quarter of a century. It cost 



^10 



Nicholas more in men and money to subdue the liberty- 
loving mountaineer, than all the wars he waged in Asia. 

The year 1830, was one of great unrest in Europe. 
Nicholas was deeply angered wlicn his friend Charles X 
of France w^as expelled. The revolution in Paris was the 
signal for a similar movement in the capital of Poland. 
Owing to the independent expression of opinion in the 
Diet, Alexander had adjourned that body indefinitely in 
1822. At the same time the liberty of the press was 
revoked and the police assumed a power in defiance of 
the law. The Grand Duke Constantine was really a 
friend of Poland, but he w^as eccentric and inpetuous 
and often unconsciously gave offense. In 1830, Nicholas 
came to Warsaw to open the Diet, when its members 
made demands which he could not grant. Both sides 
were angry when Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg. 

As soon as the French tricolor was raised above the 
consulate at Warsaw, the trouble commenced. Taken 
unprepared, Constantine withdrew with his troops. 
Again the Poles were divided ; the patriots advised recon- 
ciliation with Russia, while hotheads demanded the 
abdication of the Romanofs. The first party sent a depu- 
tation to St. Petersburg and another to Paris and Lon- 
don, to secure mediation. The czar's answer was 
decisive ; he absolutely refused to " make concessions 
(to the revolutionists), as the price of their crimes." 
Again, too, there was discord among the leaders as they 
entered upon a life or death struggle. Poland appealed 
to Europe. The people were sympathetic, but the gov- 
ernments, rejoicing at seeing a revolutionary movement 
suppressed, refused to interfere. 



211 



111 February, 1831, a Russian army of 130,000 men 
invaded Poland. The Poles showed a heroism which 
appealed to the people of Europe, but more than sym- 
pathy was needed to arrest the irresistible Russian 
advance upon \\'arsaw. Constantine and the Russian 
commander-in-chief fell the victims of cholera, but an 
epidemic of discord struck Poland and sealed its fate. 
On the 6th of September, Warsaw was invested. The 
capital was forced to surrender. ** Warsaw is at your 
feet," wrote the commander-in-chief to the czar, who 
lost no time in trampling upon the conquered. The con- 
stitution was abrogated, the Diet, a thing of the past. 
Poland was no more. \\'here it had stood, was a Russian 
province. Russian officials introduced Russian taxes, 
Russian coinage, and Russian justice such as it was. 
The Poles saw samples of it when thousands were 
arrested without process of law, and were sent to 
prison or to Siberia, while other thousands lost their 
property by confiscation. In \Miite Russia and Lithuania 
the use of the Polish language was prohibited and the 
Catholic Clergy were forced to " ask " admittance to the 
bosom of the Greek Church. It must be admitted that 
the Polish peasants benefited by the change. \Mth a view 
of reducing the influence of the nobles, the government 
issued regulations protecting the laborer against the 
landowner. 

The Polish revolution caused the reorganization of 
European policies. Austria and Prussia, each in posses- 
sion of territory that formerly belonged to Poland, 
entered into friendly relations with Russia, whereas Eng- 
land and France, where public opinion could not be 



212 



ignored, drew more closely together. Nicholas was 
posing as the arbiter of Europe and the champion of 
kings. He assumed the right to command, but would 
soon find his will contested. 

This was brought home to him in 1832, when trouble 
broke out between Turkey and Egypt. The Egyptian 
army was victorious and threatened Constantinople, 
when the sultan appealed to the powers. Russia 
responded at once by sending two armies, but a strong 
protest from England and France caused the withdrawal 
of the troops of Russia as well as those of Egypt. Baf- 
fled, Nicholas on June 3, 1833, entered into an offensive- 
defensive alliance with the sultan, which really placed 
Turkey and with it Constantinople in Russia's power. 
Another sharp protest from England and Erance 
prevented the consummation of the alliance. 

In 1839 the trouble between Turkey and Egypt recom- 
menced when Great Britain, anxious to preserve Tur- 
key's integrity, entered into an agreement with Russia, 
Austria and Prussia, which was signed at London in 
July, 1840. There was some danger of a war with 
Erance but England, fearing Russia's designs, returned 
to her former ally. By the Convention of July 13, 1841, 
Russia's designs upon old Czargrad were postponed until 
a more favorable opportunity. In 1844, Nicholas visited 
England, but his reception in London was cool. He, 
however, entered into an agreement whereby the Khan- 
ates of Central Asia should remain neutral ground 
between Russia and India. 

In 1846, trouble broke out in Gallicia, where the Poles 
rose against Austria ; but as the nobles had to subdue 



213 

a revolt of their own peasants, order was quickly re- 
stored. The free city Cracow was the resort of the Poles. 
Russia. Austria, and Prussia sent troops against it, and 
Cracow was annexed by Austria notwithstanding a pro- 
test from England and France. 

The year 1848 will long be remembered for the blows 
bestowed upon the divine right of kings, and the privi- 
leges which the sovereigns were compelled to concede to 
the people. The Emperor Ferdinand of Austria was 
expelled from his capital, and the King of Prussia was 
subjected to humiliation by his own people. France pro- 
claimed the republic, and Nicholas proclaimed himself 
the champion of the right divine. He dispatched an 
army into Hungary, which was soon '' at the feet of 
your Majesty," and felt the wrath of the frightened 
Ferdinand. 

Notwithstanding this cooperation, the understanding 
among the three powers, Russia, Austria and Prussia, 
was giving way before individual interests. When, in 
1852, Prussia attempted to seize the German provinces 
of Denmark, it was Nicholas who compelled her to with- 
draw. On the 8th of May of that year, the independence 
and integrity of Denmark were recognized by the Treaty 
of London. 

In the same year Louis Napoleon made an end to the 
French Republic by the notorious Coup d' Etat. This 
gave great satisfaction to the czar who was heard to 
remark : " France has set an evil example ; she will now 
set a good one. I have faith in the conduct of Louis 
Napoleon." The new emperor of France did not seem 
to appreciate this condescension, or else he showed gross 
Sto. of Russia — 14 



214 

ingratitude when France and Austria, without even con- 
sulting Nicholas, settled some troubles in Turkey. The 
czar sent MenzikoiT as special envoy to Constantinople 
to demand a new treaty whereby Russia's rights as Pro- 
tector of the Greek Christians should be recognized. 
Supported as he was by France, the sultan refused. 
Nicholas then had a plain talk with Sir Hamilton Sey- 
mour, the British Minister at St. Petersburg, wherein he 
revealed his designs upon Turkey. As to Constantinople, 
he said, he might establish himself there as a trustee, but 
not as a proprietor. Sir Hamilton, as in duty bound, 
notified his government, and England hastened to join 
France in opposing Russia. 

Pretending that all he wanted was a recognition of his 
rights, Nicholas, on the 3d of July, 1853, sent an army 
under Gortchakof across the Pruth. At this an allied 
British-French fleet took up a position near the threat- 
ened point, but did not cross the Straits, which would 
have been a violation of the treaty. Nicholas stormed ; 
he declared that " This was a threat " and would lead to 
complications. Austria proposed a conference at which 
Russia, Great Britain, France, Austria and Prussia 
assisted. It seemed as if peace would be secured, when 
the sultan demanded that the Russian forces should 
withdraw, whereupon Admiral Nakhimof, on the 30th 
of November, 1853, destroyed the Turkish fleet at Sinope. 
The British-French fleet then sailed into the Black Sea, 
and the Russian ships sought shelter in the ports. 

In January, 1854, Napoleon III made a last attempt at 
maintaining peace, but Nicholas was thoroughly angry 
at the publication of Seymour's dispatches, claiming that 



^^5 

the conversation with the British Minister was entitled 
to secrecy as between *' a friend and a gentleman." Aus- 
tria and Prussia resented the contempt which the czar 
had expressed for them, and on the loth of April Eng- 
land and France entered into an offensive-defensive alli- 
ance. Ten days later Austria and Prussia arrived at a 
written agreement providing for the possibility that the 
Russians should attack Austria or cross the Balkans. 
Nicholas had aroused all Europe against him. 

The Russian fleet was unable to cope with that of the 
allies, and thus condemned to inactivity in the ports. 
After heroic efforts, the Russians were compelled to raise 
the siege of Silistria, and to retire from the Danube, 
while Austria occupied the evacuated territory. But 
Nicholas was dismayed when, after a conference on July 
21, 1854, the allied commanders resolved to attack the 
Crimea. Russia zvas unprepared. It was the assault 
upon Russia's vaunted " holy soil," which gave a severe 
blow to the arbiter of Europe, at home as well as abroad. 
Still with dogged energy the Russians worked to con- 
struct defenses. On the 14th of September 500 troop- 
ships landed the allied armies, and on the 20th, the Battle 
of the Alma opened the road to Sebastopol. The port of 
Balaclava was captured by the allies, and three bloody 
battles were fought, at Balaclava on the 25th of October, 
at Inkermann on the 5th of November, and at Eupatoria 
on the 17th of February, 1855. 

It seemed as if the knowledge that an enemy was in 
Russia, aroused the Russians from a torpor. Pamphlets 
and other publications denouncing the government in 
withering terms, seemed to spring up from the pave- 



2l6 



ment. " Arise, Oh Russia ! " says one unknown writer, 
" Devoured by enemies, ruined by slavery, shamefully 
oppressed by the stupidity of tchinovnik and spies, 
awaken from thy long sleep of ignorance and apathy ! 
We have been kept in bondage long enough by the suc- 
cessors of the Tartar khans. Arise ! and stand erect and 
calm before the throne of the despot ; demand of him a 
reckoning for the national misfortunes. Tell him boldly 
that his throne is not the altar of God, and that God has 
not condemned us to be slaves forever." 

The feeling among his people was not unknown to 
Nicholas. Whatever may be said of him, he was not 
weakling, fool, or hypocrite, and it was no disgrace 
that he felt as if the ground were giving way under his 
feet. He was upright and sincere, and had lived up to 
his convictions. There is no doubt that when these con- 
victions grew dim, his strength vanished. He was heard 
to exclaim " My successor may do what he will : I can- 
not change." The sincerity of this man of iron showed 
in his losing his courage when doubts arose. Life ceased 
to have any value for him. One day, in February, 1855, 
while suffering from a severe cold, he went out without 
his overcoat. To the physician who tried to restrain him, 
he said : " You have done your duty ; now let me do 
mine ! " A serious illness followed, and he sent for his 
successor to whom he gave some instructions. As a 
message to his people, and a last cry for sympathy, he 
dictated the dispatch " The emperor is dying," which 
was sent to all the large towns of Russia. On the 19th 
of March, 1855, Nicholas I was dead. 

Under his directions wealthy merchants were classi- 



217 

fied as '' chief citizens," which procured for them exemp- 
tion from poll-tax, conscription, and corporal punish- 
ment. They might take part in the assessment of real 
estate, and were eligible to the offices to which members 
of the first class were entitled. The same privilege was 
extended to all who were entitled to the degree of Master 
of Arts, and free-born and qualified artists. It was he 
who built the first railway in Russia, by drawing a 
straight line between Moscow and St. Petersburg. He 
also joined the Volga and the Don by a canal. His reign 
is also noted for the progress of Russian literature. The 
w^orks of Ivan Tourguenief are known throughout the 
civilized world. 




(2l8) 



Alexander II 



XXIV— ALEXANDER II, THE LIBERATOR 

ALEXANDER II was thirty-seven years old when he 
succeeded to the throne. The war oppressed Rus- 
sia, and he felt that peace must be concluded. But 
Russian diplomacy loves the tortuous path. The first 
proclamation of the czar announced that he promised 
'* to accomplish the plans and desires of our illustrious 
predecessors, Peter, Catherine, Alexander the Well- 
beloved, and our father of imperishable memory." It was 
hoped that this would cause the other powers to propose 
peace, on account of the expense of the war. Indeed, a 
conference was proposed and took place at Vienna, but 
the demands of the allies were not so modest as Russia 
expected; hence the war continued, and with it the siege 
of Sebastopol. 

The Danube territory was lost to Russia since, on the 
2d December 1854, Austria had undertaken to defend 
it, and Prussia had agreed to help Austria. But Sebasto- 
pol was stubbornly defended. In the latter part of 
August 1855, 874 guns vomited death and destruction 
upon the doomed city where the Russians lost 18,000 
men. The French had dug fifty miles of trenches during 
the 366 days of the siege, and 4,100 feet of mines before 
a single bastion. In one day 70 000 bombs and shells 

219 



220 



were fired into the town. On the 8th of September the 
assault was ordered, and Sebastopol fell. 

Again Russia tried what boasting would effect. Gor- 
tchakof declared to whoever chose to believe him that he 
would not voluntarily abandon the country where Saint 
Vladimir had received baptism, and the official news- 
paper announced that the war was now becoming serious, 
and that Sebastopol being destroyed, a stronger fortress 
would be built. This meant that Russia was anxious to 
secure favorable terms. The war had cost 250,000 men, 
and Russia's credit at home was in a bad condition. 
Austria offered the basis of an agreement which was 
accepted by Russia, and on the 25th of February, 1856, 
a Congress met at Paris. Five days later the Treaty of 
Paris was signed. Russia renounced the right of pro- 
tecting the Christians in the Danubian principalities, and 
restored the delta of that river. The Black Sea was 
opened to merchant vessels of all nations, but closed to 
all warships, and no arsenals were to be constructed on 
its shores. The sultan agreed to renew the privileges of 
his Christian subjects, but with the understanding that 
the powers should not find cause to interfere. It was a 
hard blow to Russia's prestige, and indefinitely postponed 
the execution of making of Russia the restored Eastern 
Roman Empire. 

Alexander, in many respects, was the opposite of his 
father; he seemed more like his uncle in his younger 
days when he earned the surname of Well-beloved. It 
may be, however, that Alexander was but the executor 
of his father's instructions, after doubt began to torture 
him. It is known that Nicholas had seriously considered 



221 



the emancipation of the serfs. Alexander took it up in 
earnest. There were two serious difficulties, namely, the 
compensation to be allowed to the serf owners, and the 
extent of the soil to be allotted to the serfs. It must be 
remembered that, although the peasant had become re- 
signed to serve the landowner, his proverb : " Our backs 
are the owner's, but the soil is our own," showed how 
stubbornly he held to the conviction that it was his own 
land which he cultivated, however little profit he derived 
from his toil. For once the tchinovnik dared not inter- 
fere; public opinion had so strongly condemned their 
incompetence and dishonesty that the Russian official was 
glad to efface himself ; the landowners, on the other hand, 
showed little enthusiasm. They knew what their revenues 
were, but not what they would be under altered circum- 
stances. 

Soon after the Treaty of Paris had restored peace, 
Alexander addressed his '' faithful nobles " at Moscow, 
inviting them to consult about the proper measures to 
be taken with the view to emancipation. When this 
produced no results, he appointed a Committee, " for 
the amelioration of the condition of the peasants." 
The nobles of Poland, seeing what was coming, declared 
themselves ready to emancipate their serfs. The czar 
gave his consent and the ukase containing it was sent to 
all the governors and marshals of the nobility " for your 
information," and also " for your instruction if the nobles 
under your administration should express the same in- 
tention as those of the three Lithuanian governments." 

The press supported the czar, and for that reason was 
allowed an unusual freedom of expression. The plan was 



222 



formed to reconstruct and strengthen the national mir. 
This was favored by a number of large landowners who 
saw in this plan the beginning of constitutional liberty. 
The czar directed that committees be appointed to 
examine the scheme. 

There were at this time 47,000,000 serfs, of whom 21,- 
000,000 belonged to private landowners, 1,400,000 were 
domestic servants, and the rest Crown peasants who 
possessed greater privileges and enjoyed some degree of 
self-government. Their local affairs were administered 
by the mir and an elected council with an elder as execu- 
tive. They were judged by elected courts, that is juries, 
either in the mir court or in that of the volost (district). 

Forty-six committees composed of 1,336 land and serf- 
owners, assembled to discuss the future of 22,500,000 
serfs and of 120,000 owners. These committees declared 
in favor of emancipation, but could not agree upon the 
allowance of acreage or the indemnity to the owners. 
Another committee of twelve was appointed, presided 
over by the czar, but there Alexander met considerable 
passive opposition. The czar made a journey through 
the provinces, where he appealed to the nobles, warning 
them that " reforms came better from above than below." 
After his return another committee superior in authority 
to the one existing and composed of friends of 
emancipation was called. Its members, inspired by the 
czar, drafted laws whereby emancipation was to proceed 
at once, and stringent laws were made to prevent the free 
peasant from again becoming a serf, and to make of him a 
proprietor upon payment of an indemnity. On the 3d 
of March, 1861, the emancipation ukase was published. 



223 

The scheme, as is evident, was fraught with difficulty. 
A stroke of the pen by the hand of the czar could set free 
millions of serfs, but all the czar's power stopped short 
of endowing the serf with the dignity and responsibility, 
which are the freeman's birthright. For more than a 
century and a half, the moujik had been a beast of burden, 
toiling as he was bid, and finding recreation only in 
besotting himself with strong drink whenever he could 
find the means to indulge. Mental faculties, save such 
as are inseparable from animal instinct, had lain dormant ; 
moral perception was limited between the knout on one 
side, and gross superstition on the other. Could such a 
being be intrusted with life and property? When the 
serf, brutalized by generations of oppression, should come 
to understand that he was free to do as he pleased, and 
that the hovel where he and his brood were styed was 
his to do with as he pleased, what could he be expected 
to do ? Would he not seize the opportunity to indulge in 
his favorite craving, and, having sold his property, swell 
the army of homeless vagabonds ? 

The mir was the only means to prevent this, and mir 
meant serfdom under another name. The landowners 
disposed of their land, or of so much as was required to 
support the peasants, not to individuals but to the mir. 
To indemnify the owners, the mir could secure a loan 
whereby the debt was transferred from the owner to the 
government, and the mir was responsible for its payment 
as well as for the taxes. The moujik, as part of the mir, 
was responsible to the community for his share of the 
debt, and was not allowed to leave his village without 
a written permission from the starost or elder. He was, 



224 

therefore, in a worse position than before the emancipa- 
tion because in time of distress it was his lord's interest 
to support him, whereas after it he had to deal with a 
soulless government that demanded the taxes regardless 
of circumstances. The mir might succeed so long as the 
peasant remained in a state of tutelage; education only 
could lift him out of this, — but this means was not con- 
sidered by the government. 

But whatever may have been Alexander's intentions, 
the men charged with their execution had no sympathy 
with the moujik. The question never occurred to them: 
How shall we raise the peasant from his degradation? 
The problem before them was, how he should be made to 
support the State, as he had done before. The Russian 
statesmen had no conception of the truth that the wealth 
of a State is guaged by the prosperity of the people. 

As to the serf, he did not consider that a boon had been 
bestowed upon him. The soil and the hovel were his, 
descended to him from his forbears ! Why, then, should 
he pay for them ? He clung to this idea with all the stub- 
bornness inplanted by a sense of justice upon a limited 
intelligence. It had been hammered into his head that 
the Little Father at St. Petersburg was conferring a favor 
upon him, and this was within his limited conception; 
but when he heard what the favor was, the only solution 
which his cunning brain could devise was that the nobles 
had cheated the czar, or that there had been some jug- 
gling with the ukase. Thus grave disturbances occurred. 
In one district, that of Kazan, 10,000 men rose at the call 
of the moujik Petrof, who promised them the real article 
of liberty. Troops were called out and a hundred peasants 



225 

besides Petrof were shot. Similar disturbances occurred 
in other provinces. The poor moujik did not know that 
he was saddled with a debt which neither he nor his 
children could hope to pay ; but he did know that he was 
charged with a debt which he had not incurred. 

Nevertheless, the emancipation was a step forward. 
Under the liberal impulse then rushing irresistibly over 
Russia's broad level the upper classes clamored for 
reforms. They asked for the re-estabilishment of the 
douma as the beginning of a constitutional government, 
but the czar was not prepared to grant this, and he was 
right because under existing circumstances the peasants 
would have to be disfranchized, — and there is small choice 
between an autocracy and an oligarchy. 

It is to be regretted that the reforms in the judicial 
system, introduced by Alexander in the ukases of 1862 
to 1865, have since been rescinded. Secret examinations 
were displaced by open sessions of the courts, and crimi- 
nal cases were decided by juries; the police was for- 
bidden to examine the accused, which duty was placed 
into the hands of a qualified judge. Appeals could be 
taken to a higher court, and the Senate acted as a 
Supreme Court in the last resort. Apart from this 
system was the justice of the peace who adjudged ordi- 
nary police cases, acted as an arbitrator, and decided 
civil suits when the amount involved did not exceed 500 
rubles ($250). No appeal could be taken in cases 
involving less than thirty rubles in civil suits, or fifteen 
rubles or three days' prison in police oft'enses. If an 
appeal was taken the case was brought, not before a 
higher court, but before the collective justices of the 



226 



peace of the district, whose verdict could be set aside 
only by the Senate. 

The Russian gouhcrnii, governments, were divided 
into districts {ouiezdi) . The imperial ukase of 1864, 
created zemstvos or district assemblies composed of 
representatives of the landed proprietors or gentlemen ; 
or rural communes or mirs, and of the towns. These 
representatives were elected every three years. The 
assembly appointed an executive committee which is in 
permanent session, but the zemstvo assembles once a 
year. Its duties are strictly limited to local affairs, such 
as keeping roads and bridges in repair ; to watch over 
education and sanitation, to report on the condition of the 
harvest, and to guard against the occurrence of famine. 
Above the district zemstvo is the goubernkoe zemstvo or 
provincial assembly, whose members are elected from the 
district zemstvos. Its duties embrace the estimate of the 
provincial budget, and a general supervision over the 
districts. 

Alexander was kindly disposed and meant to do well. 
He showed it by removing the barriers erected by his 
father between Russia and western Europe. Foreigners 
in Russia were granted civil rights, and Russians were 
allowed to travel abroad. The universities were re- 
lieved of restraints and Jews who had learned a trade 
could settle where they pleased. All these reforms were 
so many promises of a new era for Russia. 

Alexander soon found out that his concessions only 
served to create demands for more. The trouble began 
in Poland, where the news of Nicholas' death was re- 
ceived with relief, if not with joy. Great hopes were 



22'J 

entertained from the new czar ; besides, the Europe of 
1855 w^^ ^^^y different from that of 1825 : monarchs had 
learned the lesson that the people possessed inalienable 
rights. Jtaly had shaken off the encumbrance of a 
number of princelings, — and y^as the better for it; 
Austria had been compelled to grant self-government to 
its Hungarian subjects ; why, then, should Poland despair 
of recovering its independence ? 

It was Poland's greatest misfortune that her best sons 
were always divided in opinion ; many of them, moreover, 
thought that Poland's cause should command the 
sacrifices of every people. They forgot that their 
country owed its downfall to itself and that, whereas 
people might express their sympathy, it cannot be ex- 
pected that they shall neglect their own business for the 
sake of other people. Some of the leaders expected that 
the czar would grant them self-government, and 
Alexander might have done so after some time ; but 
others demanded not only independence but that Russia 
should restore the parts which she had owned for so many 
years that they had become parts of the empire. The 
czar dared not grant such a request, because it would 
have produced a revolution in Russia, besides a war with 
Austria and Prussia, since those powers owned part of 
Poland. He was, however, willing to grant important 
concessions and did so. In February 1863, an insur- 
rection broke out, and Russian troops were dispatched to 
subdue it. The Russians acted with great cruelty, so 
that England, France, and Austria protested on the 17th 
of June. Russia, knowing that Prussia would come to 
her assistance paid no attention, and in 1866, Russian 



228 



Poland became a part of Russia. The Russian language 
displaced the Polish, and Poland is no longer even a 
name; it is a memory. and a warning, — nothing more. 

Quite different was Alexander's treatment of J'inland. 
In 1863, he convoked tl;e Diet of that grand dukedom, 
where nobility and people appreciated the degree of 
liberty which they enjoyed. The government did not 
interfere with the national language or religion, but took 
measures that neither should spread in Russia. 

Alexander's concessions raised the expectation of a 
constitution among those who knew what the word 
implies, including the students at the universities. These 
institutions were closed. The provincial zemstvos ex- 
ceeded their authority. That of Tver demanded the con- 
vocation of the three Estates ; that at Toula discussed a 
national assembly. Was it Alexander or his court and 
ministers who bore the responsibility for the suppressive 
means that were employed ? It may be that the attempts 
upon his life, by Karakozof in 1866, and by the Pole 
Berezofski at Paris in 1867, embittered him. But his 
kindly feeling and love for his people, taken in con- 
junction with a later event, warrant the belief that he was 
ignorant. 



XXV— GREAT EVENTS DURING ALEXANDER'S 
REIGN. NIHILISM 

PRUSSIA'S behavior during the Polish insurrection 
brought her into a close friendship with Russia. 
The result was seen when Austria and Prussia, in 1864, 
invaded the German provinces of Denmark, when Russia 
prevented intervention, and Denmark lost the two prov- 
inces by the Treaty of Vienna, October 30, 1864. Soon 
after Prussia and Austria quarreled about the spoils. 
The countries of South Germany supported Austria. 
War began on June 18, 1866, and little over two months 
later, on August 23, 1866, it ended by the Peace of 
Prague, which gave to Prussia Hanover, Schleswig- 
Holstein, Hesse, Nasssau, and the city of Frankfort. 
Prussia did not annex Wurtemburg in compliment to the 
czar, who was related to its king by marriage. 

If Russia looked carelessly upon Prussia's growth, not 
so Napoleon III of France. He saw in it a threat, and to 
offset Prussia's increase of power, tried to secure other 
territory. It was evident that nothing but a pretext was 
needed to bring on war. It was found, and Napoleon 
declared war on July 15, 1870. Once again it was Alex- 
ander who protected Prussia on the east, by threatening 
Austria which would gladly have seized the opportunity 
Sto, of Russia — 15 229 



230 

to avenge 1866. As a consequence France had to fight 
the whole of Germany ; and Russia seized the oppor- 
tunity for repudiating the treaty of Paris of 1856, which 
forbade the construction of arsenals on the coast of the 
Black Sea and did not permit any war vessels in it. None 
of the powers felt any inclination to fight Russia single- 
handed, but Prussia proposed a conference, which was 
held at London. The result was that Russia was left free 
in the Black Sea, but the sultan has the right to close the 
Dardanelles to warships. 

On January 18, 1871, the King of Prussia became 
German Emperor, and in the following year the Em- 
peror of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the 
German Emperor met at Vienna, with the result that an 
alliance was concluded among the three powers. 

In 1867 Russia resolved to dispose of its possessions 
on the western hemisphere by selling Alaska, a territory 
covering 590,884 square miles, to the United States. In 
the same year a Slavophil Congress was held at Moscow 
with the czar's approval. The object was said to be to 
unite all the nations of Slav origin by a bond of friend- 
ship ; but the real purpose was to bring them under the 
rule of the czar. This was apparent when it was re- 
solved to send emissaries among the Slavs under Turkish 
rule. They met with encouragement in Montenegro, 
Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. General Ignatieff, 
the Russian ambassador at Constantinople, thought that 
this might be the means to bring about the longed-for 
annexation of the old Czargrad. He worked upon the 
Turkish subjects belonging to the Greek Church, but 
showed his hand when, under his decision, the Bulgarians 



231 

were released from the authority of the Patriarch of Con- 
stantinople. In 1875, the Bulgarian Christians rose 
against the Turkish tax-farmers. The revolt was fanned 
by the Russian emissaries, and it spread to Servia and 
Montenegro. Ignatieff did not think that the time was 
ripe and interfered; but he threatened the Sultan with 
European intervention and Abdul Aziz granted the in- 
surgents the privileges enjoyed by the Christians in 
Turkey. 

Austria looked with apprehension upon the increasing 
influence of Russia in Turkey, and suggested drastic re- 
forms in a note addressed to the powers on December 30, 
1875. It was approved and presented to the sultan by 
the five great European powers. Abdul Aziz quietly ac- 
cepted it. This was not what the Russian Slavophils ex- 
pected, and they incited the Servians to revolt. A re- 
ligious insurrection followed which was put down by 
the Turks with such cruelty that it aroused universal in- 
dignation in Europe, especially in Russia. In Constan- 
tinople the Turks were indignant at the sultan's evident 
fear of Ignatieff. The situation became so alarming 
that Great Britain assembled a fleet in Besika Bay. The 
triple alliance, Russia, Austria and Prussia, demanded 
of the sultan an armistice and the execution of reforms 
under foreign supervision. The situation changed by a 
revolution in Turkey on May 29, 1876, when Abdul Aziz 
was assassinated and succeeded by his nephew Murad V. 

Russia felt that war was inevitable and approached 
Austria with proposals to take joint action. The reply 
was that Austria could not permit the creation of a Slav 
state on the frontier and that, if any changes were made 



232 

in the Balkans, Austria must receive compensation. 
This was admitted by Russia. A number of Russian 
officers took service in Servia, among them General Cher- 
naiev, who had gained distinction in Central Asia. 
JMontenegro declared war against Turkey on July 2, 
1876. 

On the 31st of August, of the same year. Sultan Murad 
V was deposed, and his half-brother became sultan as 
Abdul Hamid II. ^Meanwhile the Turks were victorious, 
and on September, 17, the Servians asked for an armis- 
tice. 

The reports of Turkish atrocities aroused great indig- 
nation in Great Britain ; its government was forced to 
join the other great powers in a note to the sultan de- 
manding reforms. Abdul Hamid made vague promises 
but when the Servians, trusting to intervention, again 
took up arms, they were badly defeated and a great num- 
ber of Russian officers were killed. The czar was forced 
to interfere. On October 31, he demanded an armistice 
of six weeks, to which Abdul Hamid replied that he 
would make it six months. This was declined because 
it would keep the Servians too long in suspense, and the 
w^ar continued. In the beginning of November Cher- 
naiev admitted that the Slav cause was lost unless foreign 
help came. 

Alexander was really concerned in seeking a peaceable 
solution, but his high officers were equally earnest in pre- 
venting it. Ignatieff, at Constantinople, was especially 
active with every means at his disposal. Alexander sug- 
gested a European conference but before it assembled 
he declared publicly at Moscow (Nov. 10), that, anxious 



233 

as he was to avoid the shedding of Russian blood, he 
would act alone to support his brethren in race and 
religion unless the conference brought relief. 

The representatives of the powers met at Constanti- 
nople on the 5th of December. 1876. The sultan, a man 
of rare ability and cunning, knew that Turkey's disin- 
tegration was discussed in its own capital. He did not 
object, but made one of the reform party his Grand 
Vizier, and astonished the world by proclaiming a con- 
stitution on December 25. 

The conference concluded its deliberations, and pre- 
sented its conclusions to the sultan who agreed to sub- 
mit them to the National Assembly, which was to meet 
in March, 1877. Abdul Hamid was wise. He made the 
first legislature Turkey ever had, — and he had firmly 
resolved that it should also be the last, — responsible 
for whatever might happen. The session was brief, 
but long enough to refuse the conditions imposed by the 
powers. 

Alexander demanded that the sultan make peace with 
Montenegro which was declined. On the 24th of April 
the czar declared war. England protested against Rus- 
sia's independent action, but 250,000 men crossed 
the Turkish frontier. The principal incident was the 
siege and fall of Plevna (July 20 — Dec. 10, 1877), under 
Osman Pasha. The surrender of this brave Turk 
alarmed England, which, however, did not grant Tur- 
key's appeal for intervention. It was at the battle of 
Senova, Jan. 9. 1878. when he captured 27,000 prisoners 
and 43 Krupp guns, that Skobelef won fame. On Jan- 
uary 23, Constantinople was at the czar's mercy. 



234 

But this awoke England. On February 13, the British 
fleet passed through the Dardanelles without obtaining 
the sultan's consent, and thereby ruined Russia's schemes. 
In vain did its government complain of the violation of 
the Treaty of Paris ; before the czar could make good his 
threat that he would occupy Constantinople, — the object 
of the Russian's most fervid hope, — a fleet of British 
ironclads prevented its consummation. 

Peace negotiations were opened at San Stefano, when 
Russia imposed exaggerated demands which the cunning 
sultan hastened to grant, convinced that the other powers 
would prevent their execution. He was right. Great 
Britain, Austria, and Turkey entered into an alliance. 
England sent for Indian troops to occupy Malta, and 
called out the reserves. The war had cost Russia $600,- 
000,000 and 90,000 men, and she was* not in a condition 
to fight the three powers. Thus, for the second time, 
Czargrad slipped out of Russia's clutches, and each time 
she owed the disappointment to Great Britain. 

The Balkan question was settled at the Congress at 
Berlin which opened on June 13, 1878, and finished its 
sessions a month later. Turkey ceded to Russia a part 
of Bessarabia, and in Asia, Kars, Ardahan, and Batoum. 
This ending of the war, so different from what was ex- 
pected by the Slavophils, caused great dissatisfaction in 
Russia, and the czar dissolved all Slavophil committees. 
This gained him the dislike of the high ofiicers and of the 
tchinovnik. 

The absurd and dangerous doctrine of nihilism, that 
is, the destruction of everything that constitutes society, 
penetrated into Russia by way of Germany. At first it 



235 

was nothing but a theory, fascinating for young and in- 
experienced people such as students of the universities 
who, unless properly guided, are apt to adopt any idea 
that appeals to the generous sentiments of youth. In 
1864, an exile named Bakunin escaped from Siberia, and 
made his way to London where he secured employment 
on the Kolokol or " Bell," a revolutionary paper pub- 
lished in Russia which was smuggled over the frontier 
and scattered broadcast in the czar's domains. Under 
Bakunin's influence this paper became hostile to society, 
and preached nihilism. In 1869, ^ Congress of Nihilists 
was held at Basel, Switzerland ; Bakunin proposed to 
create an International Committee of active workers. 

Soon unmistakable signs of trouble appeared in Rus- 
sia, but the government was on the alert and took strong 
means of suppression. Nicholas I, the man with the iron 
will, had sent an average number of 9,000 persons an- 
nually to Siberia ; this number under Alexander the 
Liberator increased to from 16,000 to 20,000. Bakunin 
urged his followers to "go among the people," and a 
host of young persons, male and female, many of them 
belonging to the wealthy classes, adopted the life of the 
moujik in the villages. But the Russian peasant pos- 
sesses a degree of cunning which shows his dormant in- 
telligence, and suspected the motives of those who said 
they wanted to benefit him, and this, added to his real 
affection for the czar, rendered the attempt of the nihil- 
ists a failure. The Russian peasant dreads a change in 
his condition, because experience has taught him that it 
will end to his disadvantage. In 1876 there were still 
2,000,000 peasants who preferred serfdom. 



236 

The Turkish war, when the government was occupied 
elsewhere, afforded an opportunity which was not neg- 
lected by the nihilists. On a July night of the year 1877, 
fifteen young men met in the forest near Litepsk, and 
formed a conspiracy against all existing institutions. 
Two papers, TJie Popular Will and The Black Partition 
advised assassination as the means to gain their object. 
We may judge of conditions in Russia from knowing 
that many good and wealthy people made contributions, 
well aware that arrest and punishment would follow if 
the secret police should hear of it. In October, 1877, 
253 nihilists wxre arrested, and 160 were convicted at 
the trial. In February, 1878, General Trepof, Governor 
of St. Petersburg was openly accused in the papers of 
gross cruelty toward a prisoner, and Vera Zazulich, a 
young woman, sought to kill him. She was arrested, 
tried, — and acquitted, much to the disgust of the author- 
ities who made every effort to re-arrest her. Then be- 
gan a reign of terror. Officials were condemned to death 
by an '' Executive Committee," composed of members 
whose names were unknown. The police did not know 
whom to suspect, and therefore suspected everybody, and 
no one was safe. Often the condemned officer was 
warned of his doom by letter or paper, but the messenger 
could not be found. In April, the president of the Kief 
University was dangerously wounded, and a police offi- 
cer was stabbed in public. In August, General Me- 
zensof. Chief of the dreaded Secret Police, was killed, 
and when the government abolished trial by jury in favor 
of a military court, it seemed as if the public took the 
part of the terrorists. These men grew bolder. On the 



I 



^Z1 

22d of February, 1878, Prince Krapotkine, the Governor 
of Kharkof, was shot, and his death sentence was found 
posted in many cities. On the following 7th of March, 
Colonel Knoop of the Odessa police, was killed, and as a 
climax, on the 14th of April a school-teacher named 
Solovief fired a pistol at the czar. Not satisfied with 
assassination, the terrorists resorted to incendiarism at 
Moscow, Nishni Novgorod, and other cities, and there 
were riots at Rostof. In April, 1878, the government 
proclaimed martial law, and the most renowned generals, 
Melikof, Gourko, Todleben, and others were appointed 
governors with unlimited authority. At St. Petersburg 
the dvorniks or house janitors were directed to spy upon 
the residents and to report their movements to the secret 
police. Executions, imprisonment, and exile multiplied 
until it seemed as if the government wished to terrify 
the terrorists. 

Still the situation went from bad to worse. On 
December i, 1879, as the imperial train was entering 
Moscow, it was wrecked by a mine. Alexander escaped 
because he had traveled in an earlier section. Three days 
later the " Executive Committee " issued a proclamation 
excusing the attempt and announcing that the czar had 
been condemned to death. On February 17, 1880, an 
explosion of dynamite in the guard room of the Winter 
Palace, just beneath the imperial dining-room, killed and 
maimed a large number of soldiers, but the imperial fam- 
ily escaped by a hair's breadth, as the czar had not en- 
tered the room. On the 24th of the same month Louis 
Melikof was placed in charge of the city of St. Peters- 
burg, and eight days later there was an attempt upon his 



238 

life. There was a panic in the capital, when a nihilist 
proclamation announced that these attempts would cease, 
provided the czar would renounce his autocracy and 
'* leave the task of establishing social reforms to an as- 
sembly representing the entire Russian people." 

Whatever may have been his motive, Melikof urged 
the czar to try what conciliation would effect. Upon 
his advice, a large number of exiles in Siberia were par- 
doned, and persons imprisoned for political offenses were 
released. About 2,000 students expelled from the uni- 
versities were readmitted, and in several cases the death 
sentence pronounced against nihilists was commuted. 
Only two men out of the sixteen convicted of the attempt 
to blow up the Winter Palace, were executed. The ef- 
fect of this new policy was so satisfactory, that on the 
1 8th of August, 1880, the czar revoked the ukase of 
February 24, and Melikof was appointed as Minister of 
the Interior. He advised the czar to grant a constitu- 
tion, and in February 1881, placed before Alexander a 
plan to effect this important change gradually. It was 
discussed in the Council of State. The majority ap- 
proved, but a bitter opposition was manifested by the 
other members. The czar himself was in favor of it, 
but the persons with whom he came into daily contact 
caused him to hesitate. He told Melikof that he would 
give his final decision on March 12. 

On that day he had not made up his mind, but on the 
13th, he ordered that Melikof's scheme should become a 
law, and that it be published in the Official Gazette. 
That afternoon, as he was returning from his usual drive, 
and his carriage was passing between the Catherine Canal 



239 

and Michael's Garden, a bomb was thrown under his car- 
riage and exploded, killing or wounding a number of the 
guard, but Alexander was unhurt. He was hurrying to 
assist the wounded, when another bomb exploded near 
him and he was dreadfully mangled. He regained con- 
sciousness for a moment while his attendants were bear- 
ing him to the palace, but died at 3.30 p. m., without 
having spoken a word. 

A man named Rissakof, said to be a nihilist, was ar- 
rested for throwing the bomb ; but there were ugly ru- 
mors that the assassination was committed under the 
direction of parties interested in maintaining an auto- 
cratic government at all risks. Owing to the secret pro- 
ceedings in Russian courts, the murder of Alexander the 
Liberator still remains a mystery. 




(240) 



Alexander III 



XXVI— ALEXANDER III, THE PEASANTS' 

FRIEND. 

THE atrocious death of The Liberator gave the throne 
to his son, who succeeded as Alexander III. The 
new czar was thirty-six years old. Nicholas, the eldest 
son of Alexander II, had died of consumption in 1865, 
and, since he had been the heir, his younger brother had 
not received any special training. His principal tutor 
had been Pobiedonostzeff, a man who believed in autoc- 
racy. He had imbued his pupil with a deeply religious 
feeling, and imparted to him a thorough knowledge of 
Russia's history. Alexander III was of powerful build 
and possessed unusual strength. He was loyal to his 
word, and tenacious in his likes and dislikes. Married 
to Princess Dagmar of Denmark, he was a model hus- 
band and father. His education made him a firm believer 
in autocracy. 

The sudden and tragic death of his father moved him 
so deeply that he gave orders that the last wishes of the 
late czar should be respected. " Change nothing in my 
father's orders ; " he said to Melikof ; '' they are his last 
will and testament. He issued two proclamations ; in 
the first he announced that he would strengthen the bond 
with Poland and Finland, and thus gained the support of 
the Slavophils ; and in the second, he reminded the peas- 

241 



242 

ants of the freedom given to them by his father, and or- 
dered them to swear allegiance to himself and his heir. 
Six men and a woman implicated in the murder of the 
late czar were arrested, tried, condemned to death, and, 
with the exception of the woman, they were executed on 
April 15. The czar appointed his former tutor as Proc- 
urator of the Holy Synod. Pobiedonostzeff persuaded 
his pupil that this was not the time to make concessions. 
On the nth of ]\Iay, 1881, Alexander issued a proclama- 
tion in which he declared his intention to maintain the 
absolute power. iMelikof resigned as Minister of the 
Interior and was replaced by Ignatieff, the former Rus- 
sian Minister at Constantinople. 

Shortly after his succession to the throne, Alexander 
made a journey to INIoscow, and was everywhere re- 
ceived with unmistakable tokens of loyalty and affection. 
This confirmed his opinion that the great bulk of the 
population was satisfied with the form of government, 
and strengthened his determination to defend it. 

In 1 88 1, an anti-semitic movement was felt in Ger- 
many ; that is, an outburst of hatred for the Jews broke 
out, which spread to Russia. It is not generally known 
that of all the Jews in the world, four fifths live in Rus- 
sia in the southwest, in an area of 356,681 square miles, 
This is sometimes mentioned as the Jewish territory. 
Few of these people engage in agriculture ; they are 
sometimes mechanics, but more often pedlers, store- 
keepers, bankers and moneylenders. The principal ob- 
jection to them was that they succeed where others fail. 
In May, 1881, there were anti-Jewish riots at Kief and 
other places. Pobiedonostzeflf's motto was, " One Rus- 



^43 

sla, One Religion, One Czar ; " prompted by him, Alex- 
ander did not take any energetic measures to suppress 
the disorder, for he, too, disliked to see in Russia a peo- 
ple differing in religion, language, and outward appear- 
ance. Ignatieff began a system of persecution by remov- 
ing the Jews who had profited by the late czar's permis- 
sion to settle anywhere, and when the act which recalled 
the Middle Ages was hotly condemned by the foreign 
press, even the Slavophils said that Ignatieff had gone 
too far. The persecution died out until 1884, when the 
Jews were deprived of their civil rights, and an attempt 
was made to compel them to enter the Greek Church. 
But the Jew is steadfast under persecution, and the only 
result was that some of them heartily joined the nihilists. 

The public condemnation which followed these acts, 
induced Ignatieff to advise the czar to adopt Melikof's 
scheme of a constitution. Alexander did not understand 
this change of views and when de Giers was appointed 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ignatieff resigned. He was 
succeeded by D. Tolstoi. 

Misunderstandings and the clashing of interests were 
dissolving the triple alliance of Russia, Austria, and Ger- 
many. This was apparent in the Balkan States which 
had been formed after the last Russo-Turkish war. 
Charles I, King of Roumania, was a German prince who 
mistrusted Russia's schemes. In ]\Iarch, 1882, Prince 
Milan Obrenovitch of Servia assumed the title of king, 
and the czar offered no objection. The ruler of Bul- 
garia was Alexander of Battenberg who was a relative 
of the czar and had served in ^ the Russian armv, which 
may have been the reason of his appointment. The Rus- 



244 

sian Minister at his court was evidently of the opinion 
that his word, as representative of the czar, was law, and 
when he found out that his orders were set at naught, 
he withdrew from his post, whereupon the Russian offi- 
cers serving in the Bulgarian army, were dismissed. 
This gave grave offense at St. Petersburg, but the affair 
was arranged, and the Russian Minister returned. In 
September, 1885, there was a revolution in Sofia, the ca- 
pital of Eastern Roumelia, when the crown was offered 
to Alexander of Battenberg, who accepted. He hastened 
to inform the czar, who was too angry to pay any atten- 
tion to letters or telegrams. 

Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia, although united un- 
der one prince, sent deputations to St. Petersburg to ap- 
pease the czar, but wxre informed that their future w^ould 
be decided by the great powers. Soon after Servia de- 
clared war against Bulgaria ; after a few unimportant 
skirmishes, they were driven back by Prince Alexander, 
who would have captured the capital Belgrad, if he had 
not been stopped by Austria's intervention. Alexander, 
after another fruitless attempt to mollify the czar, ap- 
plied to the sultan, who appointed him as Governor-gen- 
eral over Eastern Roumelia for five years. The czar pro- 
tested and invited the powers to a conference which was 
held at Constantinople on April 5, 1886. To the infinite 
disgust of the czar, the dispute was decided in favor of 
Prince Alexander. 

Russia, however, had a pro-Russian party in Bulgaria. 
On August 21, 1886, Prince Alexander was kidnaped 
and carried across the Danube, after being compelled to 
abdicate. At Lemberg, in Austrian territory he was set 



245 

free. The Bulgarians rallied under the President of the 
National Assembly and forced the pro-Russians to flee, 
after which Prince Alexander returned on the 3d of Sep- 
tember. Once more he made an attempt to pacify the 
czar, but when his telegram remained unanswered, he 
abdicated three days later, rather than involve the 
country in a war with Russia. He left on the same day, 
to the sorrow of the people. 

The czar was angry. He knew that Austria would 
not have dared oppose him unless assured of the support 
of Germany. The feeling in Russia grew^ more bitter 
when the election in Bulgaria show^ed a total defeat of 
the pro-Russian party, and the crown was offered to 
Prince Waldemar of Denmark, who declined at the in- 
stance of the czar. The Bulgarians then made an offer 
to Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, who accepted, and 
in August made his formal entry in Tirnova. Alexander 
once more protested to the powers, but it passed un- 
heeded and he urged the sultan to expel Ferdinand. 
Abdul Hamid declined with thanks, preferring to have 
as neighbor a small independent country to Russia. 
Alexander then demanded payment of the war indemnity 
due since the Treaty of San Stefano, but could obtain 
nothing except a profusion of excuses and apologies. 
Soon after the sultan had trouble in Armenia, which 
was Russia's latest resort to arouse public opinion against 
the Turk. 

This is the age of colossal enterprises and combina- 
tions in every direction, in politics as well as In other 
branches of human activity. In Russia Slavophilism, 
gave way to Panslavism, that is, the scheme to unite all 



246 

Slav nations. Germany was quick to respond with Pan 
Germanism, that is, to bring all German-speaking nations 
under one scepter. The czar, obeying this impulse, 
made every effort to convert the Baltic provinces, — which 
Germany called the German Provinces, — into Slavs by 
making the Russian language the only language that was 
taught in the schools ; and Germany retaliated in the 
Polish provinces. Under these circumstances friendship 
ceased. Russia established a protective tariff, which was 
a rude blow to Germany's commerce ; and that country 
replied by refusing to loan Russia any more money. 
The czar's government applied to France which re- 
sponded with unexpected generosity. From that time 
Russia's internal improvements have been made with 
French capital. 

Prudent as he was, Alexander allowed his anger and 
dislike to master him, when Prince Alexander of Batten- 
berg was accepted as suitor to a daughter of Queen Vic- 
toria. Troops were hurried from the Caucasus into Po- 
land, but Germany averted war by having the match 
broken off. When the present German emperor, 
William II, succeeded to the throne, he attempted to 
make friends with the czar by dismissing Prince Bis- 
marck, in 1890, but Alexander could neither forgive nor 
forget. It was chiefly owing to this that Russia and 
France drew closer together until it ended in an alliance. 

Strong, self-willed, and masterful, Alexander did love 
his people in his own way. In January, 1884, he ordered 
the poll-tax to be abolished, and thereby relieved the 
peasants of a heavy burden ; he also compelled the land- 
owners to sell to their former serfs the land cultivated 



247 

by them. Since the price was payable in instaUments and 
the owners needed the money, the government assumed 
the position of creditor, but Alexander reduced the total 
indebtedness by 12,000,000 rubles, and granted 5,000,000 
rubles for the relief of overburdened villages. He cal- 
culated that the land would be paid for in 1930, when 
the title will be vested in the mir, — unless one of his suc- 
cessors should please to appropriate the past payments 
for other purposes. 

In the black earth belt the allotments had been ac- 
cording to the needs of the population, but the increase 
among the people rendered them too small and several 
severe famines followed. The government tried to in- 
duce the surplus population to emigrate to Siberia, but 
the Russian peasant lacks education and has been held in 
tutelage so long that he is not fit for the life of a pioneer 
settler. Transportation facilities increased by the aid of 
French capital, and added to the prosperity of merchants 
and speculators, but did not help the moujik who did not 
know how to profit by them. 

Alexander, as autocrat of all the Russias, did not suf- 
fer any authority but his own. The zemstvos, volosts, 
and mirs, were all placed under officials appointed by 
him. Every shadow of self-government was destroyed. 
This demanded a reorganization of the army, which was 
increased by 900,000 men. The reserves were called out 
once a year, and drilled as in actual war. Strategic rail- 
ways were built for the speedy transportation of troops. 
Coast defenses were constructed and the navy was in- 
creased. In 1884, Batoum was closed as a port and con- 
verted into a naval base, and when England protested, 



248 

claiming that this was in violation of the Treaty of Ber- 
lin, — as it was, — Russia, referring to the changes in the 
Balkan, inquired if the duty of observing the treaties 
was reserved exclusively for Russia. 

Alexander's reign was especially discouraging for the 
Poles who still hoped for the revival of their country. 
Poles were made into Russians ; but Panslavism de- 
manded that the German should be banished. In 1887, 
Alexander ordered that, when a foreign landowner in 
Poland died, his estate must be sold unless his heirs had 
been residents of Poland before this order was published. 
Germany, suffering from Pan-Germanism, collected sev- 
eral thousand Russian Poles who had settled in Germany, 
and put them across the frontier. Russia replied by mak- 
ing a law in the Baltic provinces that nothing but Rus- 
sian could be taught in any school, and that no more 
Lutheran churches could be built without the permis- 
sion of the Holy Synod. 

Then came Finland's turn. In 1890, Russian money, 
Russian stamps, and worse than that, Russian taxes were 
introduced. There were loud protests, which received 
courteous answers, but the process continued. In 1891, 
the Finnish Committee at St. Petersburg, which had di- 
rected the affairs of Finland, was abolished, and Russian 
censorship abolished the free press. The Russian lan- 
guage was made obligatory, and the Finns who could 
afford it emigrated to the United States and settled in 
the northwest. 

In 1890, Alexander ordered the construction of the 
trans-Siberian railway, of which more will be said in 
the chapter on iVsiatic Russia. 



249 

All these years Alexander had battled with nihilism 
and revolution. His policy neither gave nor asked for 
quarter. In May, 1888, an army officer named Timovief 
made an attempt upon the czar's life. On October 29.th 
of the same year, as he was traveling in southern Russia 
an accident occurred in which twenty-one were killed 
and many injured; it was ascribed to nihilists, but may 
have been caused by defects. Be that as it may, Alex- 
ander never recovered from the shock. In INIarch, 1890, 
another plot against his life was discovered. In Novem- 
ber, 1891. the secret police came on the scent of a con- 
spiracy at Moscow, and in April, 1894, they learned of 
one at St. Petersburg. In constant fear of assassination, 
Alexander resided at Gatschina, twenty-five miles south 
of St. Petersburg, as in an armed fortress. The never- 
ceasing tension wore out the strong man. He caught 
cold and suffering from inflammation of the kidneys he 
went south, but experienced no relief. He died on the 
1st of November, 1894. 

In his private life he was essentially a good man : as 
czar, he acted according to his convictions. He gave 
much thought to the welfare of the peasants and as such 
deserved the surname of The Peasants' Friend. 




(250) 



Nicholas II 



XXVII— RUSSIA UNDER THE PRESENT CZAR. 

NICHOLAS 11. 

NEGLECT nothing that can make my son truly a 
man ! " This was the instruction given by Alex- 
ander to the tutors of his son. Consequently, Nicholas 
in his youth was allowed to indulge in manly exercises 
and sports, while special tutors taught him mathematics, 
natural philosophy, history, political economy, English, 
French, and German, besides his native language. Des- 
tined for the throne, he began his military career at the 
age of thirteen as hetman of the Cossacks, and passed 
successively through the different grades. In 1889, at 
the age of twenty-one, he was appointed president of a 
committee to prepare plans for the trans-Siberian rail- 
way, and the following year he made a tour in the Far 
East, visiting China and Japan. In the last-named coun- 
try he was attacked and wounded by a police officer who 
had been brooding over the wrongs which his country 
had suffered at the hands of Russia. Nicholas recovered 
and proceeded to Vladivostok, where he initiated the 
building of the great continental line. He returned to 
St. Petersburg by way of Siberia and Moscow, and was 
the first czar who had ever visited his Asiatic empire. 
Born on May 18, 1868, he was twenty-six years old 

251 



252 

when he was called to the throne. He announced that 
he would '' promote the progress and peaceful glory of 
our beloved Russia, and the happiness of all our faithful 
subjects." On the 26th of November, 1894, the czar mar- 
ried Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, the granddaugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria, who, on entering the Greek 
Church, received the name of Alexandra Feodorofna. 
The czar retained his father's ministers, except that 
Prince Khilkof, who had learned practical railroading in 
the United States, was appointed Minister of Public 
Works. Pobiedonostzeff continued as Procurator of the 
Holy Synod. 

Nicholas showed greater leniency toward Poland and 
Finland than his father had done. He revoked several 
of his father's ukases and seemed to be willing to treat 
them fairly. Finland's forests are a source of great 
prosperity and the Russian officials have long been anx- 
ious to secure a share. When the Secretary of State for 
Finland resigned, General Kuropatkin became Minister 
of War, and he wished to introduce Russia's military 
system. General Bobrikof, a brusque and haughty man, 
was appointed Governor-general with instructions to pro- 
ceed with the conversion of the Finns into Slavs. He 
convoked an extraordinary session of the Diet, January 
24, 1899, and submitted Kuropatkin's scheme, with a 
strong hint that it must pass. The Diet ignored the hint 
and rejected the scheme, whereupon Bobrikof ignored 
the Diet and published it as a law to go into effect in 1903. 
An imperial ukase of February 15, 1899, reorganized 
the Diet according to a plan drawn up by Pobiedonost- 
zeff, Bobrikof increased the rigor of the press censor- 



253 

ship, but the Finns remained within the law. A petition 
was circulated which in ten days secured 500,000 signa- 
tures, and a delegation was sent to St. Petersburg to 
present it. The delegation was not admitted. 

In January, 1895, the czar received a deputation of 
all classes of his subjects who hinted that the zemstvos 
might be used as the germ of a constitutional government. 
He replied that he believed in autocracy and that he in- 
tended to maintain it as his predecessors had done. On 
the 26th of May, 1896, he was crowned at Moscow with 
more than usual splendor, and in the same year he and 
the czarina made a tour through Europe. After visiting 
the German Emperor and Queen Victoria, they went to 
Paris where the czar, after reviewing 100,000 soldiers 
declared that the Empire and the Republic were united 
in indissoluble friendship. The visit was returned by 
the President of the French Republic, M. Faure, in Au- 
gust, 1897. On this occasion the world received notice 
that an alliance existed between the two powers, and that, 
if one of them was attacked by more than one power, the 
other would assist with the whole of its military and 
naval strength, and peace could be concluded only in con- 
cert between the allies. 

Two great reforms are noticeable under the present 
reign. The sale of spirits has greatly decreased since 
the government took the monopoly of the manufacture 
and sale of liquor. The French loans made the establish- 
ment of the gold standard possible and speculation in 
Russian paper money ceased. 

The completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway aroused 
great expectation for the future of Russia's commerce. 



254 

The war with Japan has prevented the possibility of es- 
timating the effect it will have upon oceanic trade. But 
Russia's manufactures have had a wonderful increase; 
its effect is shown in the population of the cities. In 
1870, Russia contained only six cities with a population 
of over 100,000; their number was doubled in 1897. 
Warsaw, the old capital of Poland, had 243,000 inhabit- 
ants in 1865; in 1897, they had increased to 615,000. 
Lotz, also in Poland, rose from 12,000 to 315,000. This 
cannot fail to exert a powerful influence upon the future 
of the empire ; first, on account of the creation of a mid- 
dle class which, even at this early day, numbers nine per 
cent of the population ; and next, because the mechanics 
and factory hands are recruited from among the peasants, 
who thus are brought into daily contact with more intel- 
ligent people, and acquire new ideas and new necessities. 
The official class is bitterly opposed to this new departure, 
because it foreshadows the day when the drag upon Rus- 
sia will be cast off. 

Nicholas seems to have reversed his father's policy in 
the Balkan States. He also acted in concert with Europe 
in 1896, when trouble arose between Turkey and Greece. 
It began in Crete, where Turk and Christian could not 
agree. Stories of massacres infuriated the Greeks and 
the king had to choose between a revolution and a dec- 
laration of war. In April, 1897, an army of 80,000 men 
under Prince George crossed into Thessaly, but was 
driven back by a Turkish army of 150,000 men. Prince 
George had invaded Crete in February, but the powers 
compelled him to evacuate the island. The czar inter- 
ceded with the sultan, and the absurd war was ended. 



255 

The Slavophils, after their failure in the Balkan prov- 
inces had excited the Armenians in the provinces near 
the Russian Caucasus. They attacked the Kurds, a no- 
madic tribe of Mussulmans, when the Turks took the 
side of their co-religionists and treated the Armenians 
with no soft hand. The Panslavists demanded auton- 
omy for Armenia, but this did not suit Prince Lobanof, 
who had succeeded de Giers as Minister of Foreign Af- 
fairs, because he feared trouble in the Caucasus. In 
1895, Russia, France, and England, presented a note to 
the sultan, suggesting the appointment of a high com- 
missioner, the abolition of torture, and reforms in taxa- 
tion. Turkey agreed, but Shakir Pasha, the high com- 
missioner, failed to restore order and the disorder threat- 
ened to become a revolt. Even in Constantinople a con- 
dition of anarchy prevailed. 

The atrocities committed by the Turks aroused indig- 
nation everywhere, when the Armenians seized the Otto- 
man Bank, but the conspirators were forced to flee from 
the building and to seek refuge on an English yacht. 
The Turks were furious and killed more than 5,000 Ar- 
menians. Again the powers remonstrated ; but at this 
time it began to dawn upon the public that the Armenians 
were a least quite as much to blame as the Turks, and 
the interest subsided. Russia had discovered that the Ar- 
menians are undesirable citizens, and sent back some 40,- 
000 of them who had settled in the Russian Caucasus. 
Germany, intent upon securing concessions from Turkey, 
left the sultan a free hand ; meanwhile the British public 
was engrossed by the Boer war, and the Armenians, see- 
ing that they were left to their own devices, subsided. 



256 

The civilized world was startled when, on August 24, 
1898, Russia issued a note to the powers, declaring that 
" military and naval budgets attack public prosperity at 
its very source, and divert national energies from useful 
aims," and suggesting a conference to discuss the sub- 
ject of displacing w^ar by an International Court. 

The note received generous applause, especially in the 
United States and Great Britain, the two foremost na- 
tions devoted to the arts of peace. The several govern- 
ments agreed to participate in the proposed conference. 
The place selected was The Hague, the capital of the 
Netherlands, where the sessions opened on ]\Iay 18, 1899. 

Of all the great powers, the United States was the only 
one unreservedly in favor of an arrangement whereby 
war would be prevented. jMost of the other powers 
looked upon an International Court as visionary, and so 
far as the ostensible purpose is concerned, the conference 
was a failure. Still, it bore fruit in defining and adding 
strength to international law. Among its most impor- 
tant results is the clause that " When a conflict seems 
imminent, one or several powers shall have the right to 
offer mediation, and its exercise shall not be regarded 
as an unfriendly act." A permanent Court of Arbitra- 
tion was established at The Hague. It is composed of 
judges selected from a list on which every country is rep- 
resented. On the 29th of July, the delegates of sixteen 
nations signed the protocol embodying the conclusions ; 
it was afterwards signed by sixteen more. It remained, 
however, with the United States, to give vitality to an 
institution which was looked upon with ill favor by many 
governments. 



'17 



Although the reign of terror from the nihihsts has 
passed, poHtical murder is still rampant in Russia, and 
recent events in the Far East have caused a renewal of 
the agitation for reforms. In 1904, the Governor-gen- 
eral of Finland was assassinated, and soon afterwards, 
the hated and dreaded Minister of the Interior de Plehve 
shared that fate. His successor seems to be anxious to 
grant greater liberties to the people. The united action 
of the zemstvos, and the final issue of the war in the 
Far East, may have important results. Nicholas II, 
amid all his perplexities, was made glad by the birth of 
a son and heir, who received the name of Alexis. 



XXVIII— THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE 
ASIATIC EMPIRE 

A CLOSE study of the history of Asiatic Russia reveals 
-^-^ the fact that, until within a comparatively recent 
date, the Russian government had no fixed policy in or to- 
ward Asia. There was a national instinct which impelled 
Russia eastward. Twice had Europe been invaded by 
Asiatic hordes, and, owing to its position, Russia was 
doomed to bear the brunt of the onset. Russia's history 
points out a ceaseless desire to be a European nation, to 
share with Europe its progress and its burdens. It is 
within a few years that the heir to the throne first visited 
the extensive Asiatic dominions. No czar had ever put 
foot in them. Until the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855), 
the Russian Empire spread eastward much as the United 
States expanded westward, by individual effort. 

The movement began in 1558, when Ivan the Terrible 
granted to Gregory Strogonof ninety-two miles of waste 
land on the banks of the Kama. The new owner ex- 
plored the mineral resources of the Urals, crossed 
the mountains, and found himself in the kingdom of 
Sibir. Strogonof had become acquainted with one 
Yermak or Irmak, a Cossack and captain of a robber 
band known as the Good Companions of the Don. He 

259 



26o 



had been condemned to death, if the government could 
lay hands on him, which, on account of the sparsity of 
the population, was exceedingly doubtful. Strogonof 
discussed with him a raid into Sibir, and the Cossack 
consented, provided his pardon could be secured. Strog- 
onof went to ^Moscow and submitted his scheme to Ivan 
who gave his approval. Upon his return to the Urals, 
Strogonof found that he had 850 men, Russians, Cossacks, 
Tartars, and German and Polish prisoners of war, all 
hardy adventurers. They marched east terrifying the 
natives with their firelocks, and levying tribute, that is, 
taking whatever was worth the trouble. They defeated 
the khan, and took his capital, Sibir. on the Irtish. 
Yermak then visited IMoscow, where he was the hero 
of the day. Had he not struck at the very heart of the 
mysterious continent whence so much trouble and dis- 
grace had come upon Russia? And had he not exacted 
tribute from the very people who not very long ago held 
Russia under tribute. 

Yermak was therefore praised and entertained and 
graciously told to go ahead. Ivan had neither men nor 
money to spare, but he was quite willing that these 
adventurers should despoil the Asiatics, instead of holding 
up Russian travelers and traders. Ivan gave him a suit 
of armor as a token of good will. After Yermak's return 
to Siberia, he was surprised by the natives and drowned 
by the weight of his armor as he was trying to escape 
by swimming the Irtish. (1584.) Other Cossacks had 
heard of his success and followed his example. In 1587, 
Tobolsk was founded on the Irtish, ten miles below 
Sibir. 



26l 



There was little or no communication between 
Siberia and Moscow, owing to the distance separating 
them, and the successors of Ivan had ample trouble on 
their hands. It was, therefore, left to the Cossacks to 
make such explorations and conquests as they could. 
In 1619, Tomsk was founded. Farther and farther did 
the Cossacks advance among the isolated tribes. In 
1632, a log fort was built where Yakoutsk. now stands, 
and six years later they gazed upon the broad waters of 
the Pacific and planted the czar's flag on the shore of 
the Sea of Okhotsk. 

It was a congenial occupation for the Cossack, to roam 
where he pleased and to take what suited his fancy, and 
he did not lack either the skill or the courage needed by 
the explorer. In 1639, ^ party of Cossacks under Max 
Perfirief, discovered the Upper Amoor, and heard tales 
of such vast wealth that they hastened to Yakoutsk and 
placed their discovery before Peter Petrovitch, the first 
Russian Governor. 

Men and money were scarce, but the governor, after 
many efforts managed to collect 132 men whom he placed 
in command of Vassili Poyarkof, with instructions to do 
the best he could. The party started on the 15th of 
July, 1643, ^^d followed the usual course with the 
natives with the result that he returned to Yakoutsk in 
June 1646, having lost most of his men in attacks by 
infuriated and outraged natives, but in possession of a 
fund of information, and some skins as tribute. 

During the reign of Alexis Michaelovitch (1645- 1676), 
explorations of the Amoor regions were pursued 
vigorously. A young ofificer of considerable wealth, 
Sto. of Russia — 17 



262 



named Khabarof, offered to conduct an expedition at 
his own expense. This was gladly accepted, and he left 
Yakoutsk in 1649. He reached the Amoor and formed a 
line of forts, and met a small party among whom was 
the khan, who asked what his object was. Khabarof 
replied that he had come to trade, but that the czar 
would probably take the khan under his powerful pro- 
tection in return for a small annual tribute. The khan 
did not answer, and Khabarof after burning most of the 
forts and leaving some of his men in another, returned 
to Yakoutsk to report. 

In June, 1651, he was on the way back to the Amoor, 
where he came in conflict with the IManchus. He, how- 
ever, forced his way, and gained for the Russians the 
reputation that they were " devils, who would make grid- 
irons of the parents to roast the children on." At this 
time a report that the Amoor region contained untold 
wealth reached Moscow, where it produced an effect very 
similar to that felt in Spain after the return of Columbus. 

Alexis intended to send an expedition of 3,000 men to 
occupy and hold this treasure grove, but he was prudent 
enough to dispatch an officer to order Khabarof to Mos- 
cow, so that he might learn the facts. This officer, Simo- 
vief left Moscow in March, 1652^ and met Khabarof in 
August of the following year. Leaving the command 
to his lieutenant Stepanof, Khabarof obeyed the czar's 
call. He arrived at ^Moscow and after the czar had 
heard his report, the expedition was given up, but Alexis 
wrote to Stepanof, upon whom he conferred some honors, 
and told him to continue the good work. 

The interest manifested by the czar inaugurated an 



263 

exploration fever among the Russian authorities. 
Pashkof^ the Governor of Yeniseisk started on the i8th 
of July, 1656, for the Anioor at the head of 400 Cos- 
sacks ; in 1658, he built a fort which was the beginning 
of Nerchinsk. It was 1662 before he returned to 
Yeniseisk. 

Unfortunately the Russians came into a clash with 
the Manchus, at that time in full vigor ; they had made 
themselves masters of China, and their emperor, Kang-hi, 
was an exceptionably able and strong man. He did not 
want war, but on the other hand he did not intend to 
suffer an injustice. 

When the government at Moscow became aware that 
further encroachment would entail a war with China 
an ambassador, Feodor Golovin, was dispatched to come 
to an understanding. He left Moscow on January 20, 
1686, but took his time. Kang-hi had been notified, and 
ambassadors were sent from Peking to meet Golovin. 
The Russian met the Chinese at Nerchinsk on the 22d 
August, 1689, and on the 27th the terms of a treaty were 
agreed upon. Two days later the treaty was exchanged. 
Russia was compelled to withdraw from the Amoor. 
After this no changes in the boundary line occurred until 
after the year 1847. 

In 1707, Kamtschatka was annexed to Russia, and two 
years later the first prisoners were sent to Siberia. They 
were prisoners of war and natives of conquered European 
provinces who objected to Muscovite rule. About 14,000 
persons were sent the first year, but many died from the 
hardships suffered on the road. 

Besides Siberia, Russia in Asia consists of : 



264 

I. The Caucasus. It was Peter the Great who, in 
1722, invaded Dagestan and seized the greater part of 
this territory. We have seen how the mountaineers 
defended their liberty under Schamyl/ and it was left 
to his son Alexander to annex it and make it part of the 
Russian Empire. Including Trans Caucasia, it covers 
an area of 180,843 square miles, — or about that of 
Colorado and Utah, and contains a population of 
8,350,000. 

II. The Kirghiz Steppe. This is a country of plains, 
unfit for agriculture and still inhabited by nomads 
who live in tents and wander with their flocks over 
the 755,793 square miles of territory. They are divided 
into three hordes or families, one of which surren- 
dered to Anne Ivanovna in 1734. In 1869 the Kirghiz, 
together with the Cossacks of the Don, revolted, but in 
the autumn of 1870, order was restored. For admin- 
istrative purposes, it is divided into : 

III. Transcaspia, which, as the name indicates, in- 
cludes the region east of the Caspian Sea. It contains 
an area of 383 618 square miles with a population esti- 
mated at 352,000. Like the Kirghiz Steppe, it is unfit for 
agriculture, although it contains several oases. It was 
formed into a province by Alexander III, in 1881. 

IV. Turkestan contains 409,414 square miles with a 
population of 3,341,000. The valleys of the Oxus and 
Jaxartes are very fertile, but the rest of the extensive 
province is almost a desert. The Oxus or Amu Daria 
once formed the boundary of the empires of Cyrus and 
Alexander. It was conquered step by step, and after 

^ See p. 209 



265 

many struggles with the Turkomans and Kirghiz to 
whom it originally belonged. 

V. The Khanates, so called because they once formed 
the territory of the Khans of Khiva and Bokhara. This 
province embraces 114,320 square miles with a population 
of 3,200,000. Both are recent acquisitions. It was the 
war with Khiva, in 1872, which first drew the attention of 
Europe to Russia's expansion in Central Asia. There 
had been some doubts as to the wisdom of permitting 
Russia to add more territory to her already enormous 
domain, but they had been allayed by a circular note to 
the powers, issued by Prince Gortchakof, the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, on November 21, 1864. He declared 
that Russia had been brought into contact with a number 
of half-savage tribes who proved a constant menace to 
the security of the Empire, and that the only means of 
maintaining order on the frontier, was to bring them 
under submission. This, he said, had been done by the 
United States, and was nothing but a measure necessary 
for self-defense. 

This reasoning was self-evident, but in 1873 the 
press of Great Britain asked when and where 
this necessity would cease. Count Schouvalof was sent 
to London and in several interviews with Lord Granville, 
he stated distinctly and plainly that Russia had no inten- 
tion to annex any more territory in Central Asia. He 
declared ^ solemnly with regard to Khiva that " not only 
was it far from the intention of the emperor to take pos- 
session of Khiva, but positive orders had been prepared 

1 Parliamentary Papers, Central Asia. 1873. 



266 



to prevent It, and directions given that the conditions im- 
posed should be such as would not in any way lead to 
the prolonged occupation of Khiva." 

Notwithstanding this positive declaration, Khiva was 
annexed on the loth of June, 1873. Four months after- 
wards, on the loth of October, a treaty was signed by 
the Khan of Bokhara, giving to Russia free navigation 
on the Oxus, and other privileges. It has never been 
formally annexed, but is to all intents and purposes Rus- 
sian territory. 



XXIX— RUSSIAN METHODS. THE WAR WITH 

JAPAN 

AT the time when the United States and the commercial 
powers of Europe were discussing the opening of 
Japan, Russia resolved, if possible, to forestall them. 
In 1847, the czar appointed a young general, Nicholas 
Muravieff, as governor of Eastern Siberia. Shortly after 
entering upon his office he sent an officer named Vagarof, 
who had explored the Amoor River, back to it with four 
Cossacks to make an extensive report. The party left 
Strelka in the spring of 1848, but was never heard of 
again. Suspecting that they had been captured by the 
Chinese, a demand was made for their surrender on the 
plea that they were deserters, but the Chinese replied 
that they knew nothing of them. Meanwhile Muravieff 
had ordered the exploration of the shore of the Sea of 
Okhotsk and the mouth of the Amoor. These orders 
were promptly executed, and in 1850 Lieutenant Orloff 
entered the river from the sea. The following year 
Captain Nevilskoi, who had come out in the Baikal, sent 
a boat up the river and laid the foundations of Nikola- 
yefsk and Mariinsk, thereby securing a foothold on the 
Lower Amoor, knowing all the time that this was 
Chinese territory, and that Russia was at peace with 

267 



269 

China. The survey of the Sea of Okhotsk was not 
neglected. Port Imperial on the coast of ^Manchuria 
was discovered and occupied, and Urup, one of the 
Kurile Islands, was seized. A\'hen Commodore Perry 
arrived oft the coast of Japan, he was watched by 
Admiral Poutiatine in command of the Pallas^ Vostok, 
Oliz'utzu and Mciicikoif. Aniwa Bay was seized the 
same year, and Russians landed on the west coast of 
what is known as Saghalien, but was known and owned 
by the Japanese under the name of Karafuto. 

The Crimean Wslt gave ]\Iuravieff a pretext to violate 
further the treaty with China. He claimed that the 
settlements on the Pacific, as well as the Russian ships, 
were in need of supplies, and that the ocean route was 
closed by the allied fleets. Was it ]^Iuravieft's duty to 
furnish those supplies? In that case, any reference to 
the ocean route was preposterous, because it is absurd to 
suppose that supplies would be sent from Eastern Siberia 
to the north Pacific coast by such a route ; and if he 
had furnished them before by the overland route through 
Siberia, why, that road was open to him. AMiat he 
needed was a pretext to secure the occupation of Japan, 
or at least of some of its islands, before the other powers 
could know of it ; and for that purpose, it was necessary 
to be in possession of the lower Amoor. Perry's ener- 
getic action thwarted him ; but he could not know that. 
\\^hat he did know was that China was not in a condition 
to oppose him, and that the other powers need not know 
what he was doing. 

He determined to send an expedition strong enough to 
insure respect, and lost no time in preparing it. Fifty 



270 

barges, a steamer, and numerous rafts, a thousand Cos- 
sacks with cannon, the whole commanded by Muravieff 
himself, left Shilinsk on the 24th of May, 1854. Follow- 
ing the usual custom, the expedition was accompanied 
by scientific men to survey the river, prepare maps, 
explore the country, and examine its resources. At ten 
A. M., June 8, they arrived at Aigun where Muravieff 
was received by the Chinese authorities, who displayed 
about the same number of armed men, but such men and 
such arms ! Firelocks dating from the time of Kang-hi — 
1689, — convinced Muravieff that fifty Cossacks could 
put these braves to rout. Not caring to arouse Chinese 
hostility for fear that his schemes might attract attention, 
Muravieff did not resent it when the Chinese forbade him 
to enter the town; he continued on his journey, and on 
the 27th of June arrived at Mariinsk. After sending 
part of his force to Nikolayefsk, he went on to Port 
Imperial where he met Admiral Poutiatine. They dis- 
cussed the situation, and Poutiatine left for Japan on 
the Diana. 

Muraviefif hurried back as he had come, and prepared 
another expedition which he took down the river in 
1855. In that year he sent three thousand Cossacks, and 
five hundred colonists down the Amoor, together with 
horses, cattle, provisions, and military stores. This 
activity could not escape the Chinese who dispatched four 
officials to Nikolayefsk to protest against the invasion 
of their territory. They arrived in July, and were 
entertained by Muravieff with a review of his forces ; 
after this hint he simply dismissed them. At this time 
the settlements which stood in such urgent need of sup- 



27i 

plies, were Mariinsk, which consisted of tw^o log cabins, 
Nikolayefsk numbered ten, and Castries Bay had " four 
badly built huts."^ 

In a remarkably short time we hear of the indefatigable 
Muravieff at St. Petersburg urging the annexation of the 
Amoor. He was opposed by the czar's ministers, but 
succeeded in convincing the emperor that China could 
offer no resistance, and that the powers need not hear 
of it until it was too late. Thus he secured large 
supplies of men and money. In the beginning of 1857, 
he was back at his post, and on the ist of June he dis- 
patched Colonel Ushakof w4th six hundred men from 
Shilkinsk, and soon after followed him with a brigade of 
Cossack infantry and a regiment of cavalry, to garrison 
the forts which he constructed at strategic points. 

Seizing the opportunity of China's distress caused by 
the war with England and France, iMuravieff demanded 
the cession of the Amoor \"alley. The Chinese were 
helpless. On the 28th of May, 1858, a treaty was signed 
at Aigun, giving to Russia the left bank of the Amoor 
down to the Ussuri, and both banks below that confluent, 
besides the right to navigate the Sungari and Ussuri 
rivers. Russia gave absolutely nothing in return. Mean- 
while Count Poutiatine had been sent from St. Petersburg 
to watch the allies and to profit by any blunder which they 
or the Chinese might make. Poutiatine stopped in Japan, 
claiming that the Koreans had given him the privilege 
of establishing a coaling station at Port Hamilton, but 
knowing that Great Britain would certainly investigate 
his claim, he did not press it. He tried to seize the 

'■ Ravenstein, Russians on the Amoor. 



272 

Japanese Island Tsushima in the southern entrance to 
the Japan Sea, and midway between Japan and Korea ; 
but a poHte and firm invitation from the British admiral 
to leave that island, and the admiral's insistence to remain 
until after he had left it, spoiled that little game. Poutia- 
tine then proceeded to China where he proposed to help 
put down the Tai P'ing rebellion in return for the 
cession of Manchuria to Russia. This handsome offer 
was politely declined. Once again Muravieff hurried to 
St. Petersburg; upon his advice the newly acquired 
territory was officially annexed, and, by ukase of 
October 31, joined to the littoral of the Sea of Okhotsk 
and Kamtschatka under the name of Alaritime Province 
of Eastern Siberia, with Nikolayevsk as capital. Mura- 
vieff remained in supreme command. 

The tireless empire builder was again on the Pacific 
Coast in 1858. On May 21, he founded Blagovestchensk 
and, after descending the river, laid the foundation of 
Khabarofka, at the mouth of the Ussuri. In October he 
was back at Kiakhta, arranging for the postal service 
between St. Petersburg and the extreme east. On the 
26th of August, he was created Count Amoorsky, or 
Count of the Amoor, a promotion which he had well 
earned. On the 31st of December, a remarkable ukase 
was published, beginning " Now that Russia has f<?gained 
possession of this valuable region, etc." The entire 
territory of Eastern Siberia contained 740,922 square 
miles, a territory equal to that of all the Atlantic Coast 
States, together with Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. This 
did not include the Amoor Province, which was placed 



273 

under the administration of a governor and eighteen 
officials, who received a combined annual salary of $i8,- 
873.60, of which the governor received $4680. 

Muravieff was back at his post in 1859. Both he 
and Poutiatine tried to induce the Japanese to give up 
Karafuto (Saghalien), but without success. At this 
time there was again trouble between China and the 
allied British and French, and when in i860, a British- 
French force marched on Peking, Russia had sent another 
empire builder, General Ignatieff, to watch if he could 
not secure something. He did ; when the allies entered 
Peking, Ignatieff sought Prince Kung and told him that 
the " foreign devils " would surely seize the country un- 
less some strong power compelled them to leave. Russia 
was willing to do this, because she had always been fond 
of China; and all she asked was a strip of outlying 
territory of no value to China. Prince Kung gladly 
signed away the whole east coast of Manchuria, six 
hundred miles long; and Ignatieff redeemed his promise 
by visiting Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the British and 
French plenipotentiaries. After paying them some 
flattering compliments, he made the remark that the 
Peiho river would freeze in a few days, and if they did 
not get out at once, they would have to stay all winter in 
Peking. The two gentlemen finished their business in 
a hurry, packed up, and left, but not without thanking 
Ignatieff for his kindness and reporting the matter to 
their government, which did not hear of the Russian's 
diplomacy until a year later. This is how Russia ex- 
tended her empire on the Pacific Coast. 

For many years the efforts to secure the whole island 



274 

of Karafuto continued and Japan saw that war must 
follow unless a sacrifice was made. In 1875, J^-pan 
surrendered the island, in return for the Kurile group, 
but the Japanese treasured in their hearts the loss and 
disgrace. It was this which caused the assault upon the 
present czar, when he was traveling in Japan. 

In 1894 the war between Japan and China broke out, 
and when China, humbled, sued for peace, Japan de- 
manded the cession of the Liaotung Peninsula, — where 
Port Arthur is located, — besides making other condi- 
tions. \Mien this became known, Russia, after securing 
the help of Germany and France, gave Japan the 
'' friendly advice," which was really a threat, not to take 
that peninsula. Japan, single-handed, could not fight the 
three powers, and gave way ; but every Japanese, high 
or low, young or old, was determined to pay off Russia. 
They bought or built war vessels everywhere and in- 
creased their army. Russia did not like this, and pro- 
posed that Japan should take all the islands in the 
Pacific, the Philippines, Hawaii, Borneo, etc., and leave 
the continent of Asia to Russia. Japan declined, and 
went on building ships. In the end of 1898, Russia 
announced that she had " leased '' the very Liaotung 
Peninsula which she had prevented Japan from taking. 
Japan understood, as the whole world did, that this 
" lease " meant possession. The Japanese statesmen did 
not protest, because there was but one protest that 
Russia would heed, — an appeal to arms. That was 
Japan's method when, in 1899, Alexander Pavloff, the 
Russian minister in Korea, secured from that government 
a concession in the port of Masampo, opening into the 



275 

entrance to the Japan Sea. Japan's demand was : Let 
Masampo go, or it means war, and Russia evacuated 
Masampo, w^hile PavIofiF was told that he might take a 
furlough. Then came 1900, the Boxer troubles and the 
international march upon Peking. Japanese officers took 
note of the Russian troops, leaving the Russians to do 
the same with their soldiers. Japan never ceased her prep- 
arations. In the latter part of 1901, Marquis Ito Hiro- 
bumi visited the United States and crossed over to Eng- 
land, w4iere he proposed an offensive-defensive alliance. 
British statesmen hesitated, when Ito told them in plain 
terms that if no such treaty was concluded, he was 
authorized to go on to Russia, and make the best terms 
he could for his country. 

Meanwhile Pavloff had returned to Seoul, the capital 
of Korea, and by means best known to Russian diplomats, 
was trying to gain a foothold on the Peninsula. Under 
the pretext of a timber concession, the Russians con- 
structed a fort on the Korean side of the Yalu river, — 
where it was afterwards discovered by newspaper cor- 
respondents. Russia had secured control of Manchuria 
with its 362,310 square miles and 11,250,000 population, 
and none of the powers dared protest. Japan was ready. 
Could she allow the " peaceful " absorption of Korea, 
as that of Manchuria had been accomplished ? Safe in 
the offensive-defensive alliance with Great Britain, Japan 
approached Russia in a dignified manner, to be put off 
with vague replies. After six months of patience, Japan 
broke off diplomatic intercourse, and, as this is considered 
equal to a declaration of war, she struck and hit hard. 



XXX— RUSSIA LOSES HER PRESTIGE 

WHEN, in February, 1894, the world was startled 
bv the Japanese guns in the harbor of Chemulpo 
(Korea), one of Russia's well-known diplomats, speaking 
in defense of his country, said : " Ours has been a peace- 
ful absorption." Another statesman, pleading for sym- 
pathy, remarked pathetically: " We were unprepared for 
war." The two advocates of Russia's cause spoke the 
truth, but they did not proclaim the whole truth. 

Ever since ]\Iuravieit Amoorsky began the peaceful 
absorption of ^Manchuria by seizing the coastline of that 
province, Russia has extended her dominions using no 
other weapon than her prestige, that is, the dread in- 
spired by her name, power, and resources. Repeated 
protests from Great Britain remained unheeded, because 
the czar's government was convinced that they would not 
be emphasized by a resort to arms. The semi-civilized 
tribes of Central Asia were unable, of course, to oppose 
the Russian advance; and China was justly afraid of 
defying the great northern power. Thus the peaceful 
absorption continued with such ease that the Russian 
tchinovnik ended in believing in their country's prestige. 
Herein lies the principal cause of the astounding history 
of the war with Japan. 

Sto. of Russia — 18 277 



2/8 

Although Russia repeatedly agreed to evacuate Man- 
churia, her actions in the construction of railways and 
other roads, the opening of mines, the enormous capital 
expended in creating a commercial emporium in Dalny, 
and her jealousy in excluding foreigners from that ter- 
ritory, — all this was ample evidence that nothing short of 
compulsion w^ould cause her to withdraw. Besides, 
Alexander Pavloff, the Russian Minister in Korea, was 
anxious to emulate Count Cassini, his former chief at 
Peking. He was constantly plotting to secure a foot- 
hold in the Peninsula. In 1903, it was announced that a 
Russian company had obtained a timber concession on the 
Yalu River. A few months afterw^ards, some American 
newspaper correspondents with the Japanese army dis- 
covered the ruins of a Russian fort on that river, 
securely screened from indiscreet eyes, but in a fine posi- 
tion to control the passage. That was the timber con- 
cession. 

Russia's policy, therefore, was a serious menace to 
Japan. But Japan did not purpose to draw ridicule by 
unavailing protests. Feverishly the preparations for more 
emphatic action were continued ; in the latter part of 
1903, Japan was ready. Safe from a possible European 
intervention by her treaty with Great Britain, Japan re- 
minded Russia of her promise to evacuate Manchuria on 
October 7, and requested an explanation for not keep- 
ing the pledge. Russia, with a blind faith in her prestige, 
replied that the affair did not concern Japan but China, 
whereupon Japan made a proposition concerning Man- 
churia and Korea which would be acceptable. With 
studied contempt replies from the czar were held back 



279 



beyond the time permitted by international courtesy. 
Moreover their tenor was not only unsatisfactory, but 
was also calculated to exasperate the proud Japanese. 
When the final preparations were made, Japan instructed 
her minister to St. Petersburg, to demand his passports, — 
an act equivalent to a declaration of war. 

The tchinovnik doubted their senses. Russia main- 
tained that a severance of diplomatic relations did not 
necessarily imply an appeal to the sword, when the news 
flashed over the wires that the Russian war vessels 
Varyag and Koreyetz had been blown up at Chemulpo 
to escape being captured. The world was still marveling 
at Japan's audacity when it was informed that three other 
Russian war vessels had been disabled owing to a night 
torpedo attack under Admiral Togo. 

Why was the Russian fleet, numerically superior to 
that of Japan, divided? The answer is found in that 
fatal word : prestige. Pavlofif in Korea had requested 
the presence of the two doomed ships, to keep the Japan- 
ese in awe. Admiral Stark lay under the guns of im- 
pregnable Port Arthur, trusting to the prestige, when the 
illusion vanished. There was still the Vladivostok squa- 
dron ; it made an effort to induce Togo to leave Port 
Arthur by making a raid upon the north coast of Japan, 
but in vain. Beyond sinking a few unarmed merchant- 
men, nothing of importance was accomplished. 

The czar's choice to restore Russia's naval prestige, 
fell upon Admiral Makarofif. At about the same time. 
General Kuropatkin, the former Minister of War, was 
charged with punishing Japan for her insolence. His 
departure for the Far East was theatrical. After many 



280 

genuflexions before sacred eikons, he promised to re- 
store Russia's prestige by dictating terms of peace in 
Tokyo. 

MakaroiT was less enthusiastic, and perhaps more in 
earnest. It is asserted that he restored discipHne in a 
sadly demoralized fleet. He was enticed out of Port 
Arthur's shelter by a small fleet of the enemy's cruisers 
sent out as a decoy. W'hen he discovered Togo's iron- 
clads he returned to port, but his flagship struck a mine 
at the entrance to Port Arthur and sunk. The Admiral, 
as well as his guest, the noted battle painter \'ercstchagin, 
perished. 

With Togo blockading Port Arthur and Admiral 
Kaminura guarding Madivostok, the Japanese secured 
the freedom of the sea, and began to pour troops into 
Korea. This was greeted with acclamation by the 
tchinovnik who, after their naval misfortunes, claimed 
that the situation would soon be reversed by the army. 
Some Japanese soldiers were landed openly at Chemulpo, 
but the bulk went ashore in a well-concealed harbor 
south of the Yalu River. General Kuroki was in com- 
mand. 

Meanwhile Kuropatkin was in Alanchuria busy organiz- 
ing the army when not obstructed by Viceroy Alexieflf. 
Such troops as he found were capable of rendering good 
service in hunting down Chinese brigands, but, as the 
sequel proved, the army had also been nurtured upon 
that most indigestible material, prestige. To the wonder 
of Europe, — and to a less degree of America, — Kuroki 
crossed the Yalu and sent the czar's dreaded soldiers 
flying before him. (May i, 1904.) 



28l 



Once more, and for the last time, did the Russian 
fleet at Port Arthur attempt a sortie. It failed, and its 
fate was sealed. 

While the wreckage of Russia's once proud fleet lay 
concealed in Port Arthur's inner basin, the Japanese, 
after scouring the waters to clear them from mines, 
landed troops on the Liao-tung Peninsula, claimed by 
Japan after the war with China, but despoiled of it by 
Russia's peaceful absorption. In 1894, Port Arthur was 
taken in a day from the Chinese : the Russians defended 
the impregnable fortress for six months. "Our prestige 
demands that the enemy shall not capture Port Arthur," 
cried the tchinovnik, and Kuropatkin was ordered to 
General Stoessel's rescue. The attempt failed, and Gen- 
eral Nogi could pursue the siege without being dis- 
turbed. (June 14-15, 1904.) 

A stolid, ignorant, and densely superstitious people 
was at war with a rejuvenated nation keenly aliv^e to the 
power of education. That is the secret. Man for man, 
Russia would have won. But the resourcefulness of the 
little brown man more than offset the Russian's physical 
superiority. As the year 1905 dawned, the fall of Port 
Arthur was made known to the world. 

Slowly, but heralded by the marvels it would accom- 
plish, the Baltic fleet under Rojestvensky sailed to Mad- 
agascar, welcome to whatever aid the French ally could 
bestow. Japan said nothing, but made a note of it. She 
cleaned and scraped her sea-worn, battle-scarred vessels, 
under the supervision of grim, silent Togo. Oyama, the 
Japanese commander-in-chief, reenforced by the veterans 
of Kuroki and Xogi, was playing with Kuropatkin until 



282 

he had the game in his hand. After ten days of hard 
fighting, the discomfited Russians made a masterly retreat 
to the Sha river, after evacuating Mukden, the cradle of 
the present Chinese dynasty, (August 26-September 4, 
1904.) 

Kuropatkin deserved credit for the manner in which 
he extricated the remains of the czar's army. Oyama 
did not feel safe in following up the pursuit. His game 
was that of a skillful chessplayer. First make sure of the 
result with mathematical precision, then strike. The 
Japanese were deaf to the demand for brilliant dashes. 

After the battle of Liao-yang, the armies seemed idle 
so far as news from the front went. Oyama attacked his 
former antagonist on the Shakhe River and drove the dis- 
comfited Russians beyond Tie pass. General Kuropatkin 
was superseded by his former subordinate Linievitch 
who, however, accomplished nothing to warrant his pro- 
motion. 

Meanwhile the Baltic fleet left the hospitable shores of 
Madagascar, proclaiming its search for Togo, together 
with the determination to punish the impertinent Japan- 
ese. In the latter part of May, 1905, Admiral Rojest- 
vensky made a dash for Vladivostok through the Tsu 
channel, the southern entrance to the Sea of Japan. Togo 
intercepted him, and a battle followed which, in its re- 
sults, stands unique in the history of naval warfare. 
At a cost of three torpedo boats, 113 killed, and 444 
wounded, the Japanese sank 6 Russian battleships, i 
coast defense vessel, 3 special service boats, and 3 de- 
stroyers, besides capturing 2 battleships, 2 coast defense 
vessels, and i destroyer. The losses in killed were 8,550 



283 

and over 3,000 prisoners, among them Admirals Rojest- 
vensky and Xebogatoff, were taken to Japan. As a 
result of this one-sided battle, Russia's naval power is 
broken. (May 27-28, 1905.) 

\A'hile President Theodore Roosevelt seized this op- 
portunity to approach the belligerents in favor of peace, 
pointing out the hopelessness of continuing the struggle 
to Russia and appealing to Japan's magnanimity, the 
world was startled by the revolt of the Kniaz Potemkin, 
a first-class battleship of the Black Sea squadron. The 
mutineers found no support, and what might have proved 
a serious danger to the house of Romanoff, ended by 
the ship being sunk in Roumanian waters. She was 
recovered by the Russians. 

President Roosevelt's efforts toward bringing the two 
powers together, proved successful. Washington was 
agreed upon as the place for the negotiations, but the 
plenipotentiaries, Sergius \\'itte and Baron de Rosen 
acting for Russia, met Baron Komura and Minister Taka- 
hira, who represented Japan, at Portsmouth, X. H., 
where the United States acted as host. 

The incompatibility of Japan's demands and Russia's 
concessions on several occasions brought the plenipoten- 
tiaries on the verge of rupture. With the singleminded- 
ness born of an unselfish purpose, President Roosevelt 
exerted all the personal influence he could bring to bear 
upon czar and emperor with the result that the victor 
gave the world an astounding lesson in magnanimity. 
Japan made peace possible by withdrawing her demands 
for indemnity and the cession of territory beyond that of 
which Russia had robbed her, — the southern half of the 



284 

island of Sakhalin, which will be once more Karafuto 
for the Japanese. 

The terms of the Treaty of Peace were agreed upon at 
Portsmouth on the 29th of August 1905. The war had 
lasted from the 5th of February, 1904, or 572 days. Rus- 
sia paid in men 375,000, in money $1,075,000,000, — all 
for peaceful absorption and support of prestige. Cassini's 
shrewd move, ten years before, in robbing Japan of the 
Liao-tung Peninsula and Port Arthur, has ended in 
Japan's obtaining possession of that key to Peking, with 
the promise of holding it beyond the possibility of re-, 
capture, until China recovers its manhood. The Treaty 
of Peace was signed September 5, at Portsmouth, N. H. 

What will be the effect of the war upon the Russian 
people? While the plenipotentiaries were discussing the 
terms of peace, autocracy launched a ukase calling for a 
consultative assembly. Russian thinkers, however, re- 
flect that, so long as autocracy exists and the tchin- 
ovnik admit no other authority but that of the czar, 
another ukase may revoke the doubtful boon. 

No one knows what the morrow will bring, either to 
us or to the Slav. Yet it seems absurd to suppose that, 
after the lessons of corruption and incompetence of the 
present government, the educated Russians will remain 
quiescent while the great empire continues on its down- 
ward course. Aledisevalism has come into contact with 
the spirit of the twentieth century, and has been found 
wanting. It seems as if the dawn of a new era for 
Russia is at hand. 



INDEX. 



Abdul Aziz, 231 

Abdul Hamid, 232 

Alexander I, the Well-beloved, 197 

Alexander II, the Liberator, 218 

Alexander III, the Peasants' 

Friend, 241 
Alexander of Battenberg, 246 
Alexander Xevski, 60, 69 
Alexis Michaelovitch, 141 
Alexis, son of Peter the Great, 170 
Andrew Bogoliouski, 54 
Anne Ivanovna, Czarina, 175 
Area of Russia, 14 
Armenians, 255 
Askold, 30 

B 

Baskak, Tartar tax collector, 71 
Bati, Khan of the Golden Horde, 65 
Battle of the Oka, 102 
Boundaries of Russia, 15 
Boyard, noble, 56 
Byzantium, former name of Con- 
stantinople. 



Catherine I, wife of Peter the 

Great, 169, 171, 173 
Catherine II, the Great, 183 
Caucasus, The 264 
Choulski, Andrew, 112 
Chou'iski, Czar, 134 
Christianity, 36, 42 
Climate of Russia, 18 
Constantine, 58 

2 



Council of Florence, attempt to 
unite the Roman and Greek 
Churches, 60 

Crimea The, annexed, 190 

Crimean War, 215 

Cyril, 36 

Czar, king, 112 

Czargrad, city of the king 

Czarina, wife of the czar 

D 

Dagh Bog the sun god, 26 

Diak, secretary, 107 

Dir, 30 

Dmitri Donskol, 87 

Dnieper, 20 

Donskoi, of the Don, surname of 

Dmitri, 91 
Douma, council of nobles, 131 
Drujina, bodyguard, 32 
Diina, 20 

Dvor, inclosure, 27 
Dwina, 20 



Eikon, image of a saint, 44, 55 
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 118 
Elizabeth, Czarina, 178 



Feodor (Theodore\ Son of Ivan 

the Terrible, 129 
Feodor Alexievitch, 144 
Finland, 26 
Finns, 26 
Frederick the Great, 188 



85 



286 



G 

Galitch, Southwest Russia, 6i 

Gedimin, 80 

Genghis Khan, 64 

George Dolgorouki, 51 

George, Grand Duke of Moscow, 83 

Godounof, Boris, Czar, 129 

Gosti, guest, Russian for merchant, 
124 

Goubernii, Government or pro- 
vince, 226 

Greece, independence of, 209 

Greek Church, 42 

Gustavus Wasa, 119 

H 

Hetman, chief of Cossacks. 

I 

larHkh, patent or written author- 
isation from the khan, 73 
laropolk, 41 
laroslaf II, 44 
Igor, son of Rurik, 30, 32 
louri, George, 
Isiaslaf, 50 
Ivan Kalita, 85 
Ivan II, 88 

Ivan III, the Great, 97 
Ivan IV, the Terrible, iii 
Ivan Alexievitch, 145 
Ivan Ivanovitch, 177 



Jagellon, 80 

Jews, persecution of the, 242 

K 

Kahta, ahnsbag, 87 

Kazan, 119 

Khanates, the, 265 

Kholop, slave, 123 

Kief, 41 

Kirghiz Steppe, 264 

Kniaz, duke, defender, prince, 30, 

45 



Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 191 

Kostroma, 19 

Kublai Khan, 68 

Krestianine, true Christian, sur- 
name given to the peasants 
during the Tartar yoke. 



Leo the Deacon, historian, 37, 39 
M 

Mangou, grandson of Genghis 

Khan, 67 
Mazeppa, 147, 158 
Methodius, 36 
Metropolitan, Head of the Greek 

Church, 56 
Michael, Grand Duke of Tver, 75 
Michael, first czar of the present 

dynast}', 135 
Mindvog, 79 
Minine, Kouzma, a Russian patriot, 

134 

Mir, communal village, 27 

Moscow, Burning of, 202 

Moujik, lit. Manikin, contemp- 
tuous word for peasant, 34 

Mstislaf the Bold, 58 

Mstislaf the Brave, 55 

Murad V, 231 

Muravieff Amoorsky, 267 

N 

Namiestnik, ducal delegate, 106 

Napoleon I, 197 

Napoleon III, 213,229 

Nicholas I, 207 

Nicholas II, 251 

Nicon, Reformer, 144 

Nihilism, 234 

Nestor, Russian historian, 29, 32 

Novgorod, Republic of, 29, 97 



O 



Oktai, khan, 69 
01 ga, 42 



28; 



Olgerd, 80 
Oleg, 30, 41 
Olmutz, Battle of, 198 
Oulogenia, Code of Laws under 
Ivan III., 105 



Pan-Germanism, 246 

Pan-Slavism, 245 

Paul I, 194 

Peace Congress, 256 

Peipus, Lake, Battle on the Ice, 70 

Perun, god of thunder, 27 

Peter the Great, 145 

Peter II, 174 

Peter III, 179 

Philarete, Metropolitan, father of 
the first Romanof, 135 

Plemia, confederacy of tribes, 28 

Poland, Partition of, 188 

Poliessa, forest region, 20 

Poniatofski, Stanislas, 187 

Portsmouth, Peace treaty at, 284 

Possadnik, burgomaster or com- 
mandant, 52 

Prestige, Russia loses her, 277 

Pskof, Republic of, 51 

Pultowa, Battle of, 81 

R 

Raskol, plur. Raskolnik, Religious 
Madmen, opponents to Xicon's 
reforms, 146 

Roman, Duke of Volhynia, 61 

Romanof, Anastasia, wife of Ivan 
the Terrible, 114 

Romanof, Michael, elected czar^ 

135 
Rurik, 29 

Russkaia Pravda, Russian Right, 

45 
Ryndis, young nobles, no 



St. Petersburg founded, 168 



Sarai, Capital of the Golden Horde, 
68 

Schamyl, 209 

Scythians, 23 

Simeon, first Grand Duke of All 
the Russias, 88 

Sineous, 29 

Slavophil, Friend of Slavs, 230 

Slavs, 25 

Smerd, boor, lout. 

Sophia, Autocrat of All the Rus- 
sias, 145 

Starost, elder or mayor, 52 

Streltsi, national guard, 121 

Stri Bog, god of the winds, 27 

Sviatopolk, 44, 49 

Sviatoslaf, 35, 41 



Tamerlane, 92 

Tartars or Tatars, 63 

Tartartchina, Tartar Yoke, 73 

Tcherne. Black people, name ap- 
plied to the people by the 
nobles, ']'] 

Tchelobitie, Beating of the fore- 
head, i. e., petition, 123 

Tchin, plur. Tchinovnik, lit. Gen- 
tlemen, now Officials, 164 

Tilsit, meeting at, 199 

Transcaspia, 264 

Treaty of Berlin, 234 

Treaty of Paris, 220 

Truvor, 29 

Turkestan, 264 

Turks, 94, 231 

Turkey, war with, 232 

Tysatski, commandant of the mi- 
litia, 52 



U 



Ukase, imperial edict equal to law 
Ural Mountains, 18 
Uzbeck, Khan, 68 



288 



Valdai Plateau, 19 

Varanoians, Norsemen, 29 

Vassili the Blind, 93 

Vetche, Municipal Council, 27 

Vitovt, 81 

Vladimir Monomachus, 49 

Vladimir, Saint, 41 

Voievod, governor of a fortress, 33 



Volga, 119 

Voloss, god of the flocks. 
Volost, county or canton, 28 
Vsevolod, 57 



Zemisces, John, 38 
Zemstvo, Assembly, 226 



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